Climate Refugees (2) – Natural Disasters & Droughts

 

Hi everyone! πŸ™‚

Today, we’ll be investigating the potential of increased transboundary migration due to natural disasters and droughts, and how previously undiscussed factors like political instability, gender, and age lead to disproportionate vulnerability levels.

First, I’d like to highlight how environmental injustice goes hand-in-hand with gender inequality.

In countries where women have fewer rights to education, they are more likely to work in low-skilled industries such as agriculture. In Pakistan and Tanzania, about 70% of working women are employed in agriculture. This already presents a disadvantage since incomes are volatile in the agricultural sector, but the chance of women owning small-scale agriculture (rather than conventional farms), is also 4 times higher than that of men. This makes them even more vulnerable to extreme weather events like droughts that destroy their crops, since small-scale farms are less likely to have income or harvest reserves.

Lower literacy rates among women may also increase their vulnerability to natural disasters – they are less likely to be educated about potential natural disasters and evacuation procedures in their region. In Japan’s earthquake relief, women are even denied their basic needs (refuge, hygiene products, and privacy) and left out from leadership and planning.

Women also have lower physical capacities, affecting their ability to survive. Of course, this also applies to children, disabled communities, and the elderly. In Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami, 56% of casualties were 65 or older (refer to figure below), with a majority of them being women.

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The elderly are also more susceptible to disease outbreaks that occur in the aftermath of a disaster. After Hurricane Katrina, elderly survivors suffered from four-times more health problems than those unaffected by the hurricane. And as Dr. Coleman mentioned in her lecture (Week 9 – Human Impacts), the African-American community in Louisiana was impacted the most by Katrina. In the recent Hurricanes Laura and Delta hitting Louisiana, they are likely facing the same issues.

Dr. Coleman’s mention of the link between environmental injustice and Syria’s civil war also led me to dig deeper.

Syria was already facing instability in its agricultural sector and water supply. Governmental policies continued to encourage exploitation of depleting groundwater sources and land, however, and with more frequent and severe droughts due to climate change, the problem worsened. Being reliant on annual rainfall and groundwater for its agriculture, Syria is also especially vulnerable to droughts. Smaller-scale farmers suffered the most, with near-zero or no yields at all and the loss of almost all their livestock, especially with subsidy cuts by the government.

A man looking at land affected by drought

The 2006-7 Fertile Crescent drought [Getty Images, from JSTOR Daily].

The drastic population increase worsened conditions further due to pressure on resources. Most of Syria’s 1.5 million Iraqi refugees arrived from 2006-7, along with the same amount of rural-to-urban Syrian migrants due to severe drought. It is likely that these events, together with a history of oppression and political instability, led to social unrest. The beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011 then became the beginning of Syria’s biggest refugee crisis.

This supports UNHCR’s observation that people who have already been displaced (due to reasons other than natural disasters) are likely to live in places worst-hit by climate change, thus once again vulnerable to displacement. With Syria expected to become drier with climate change, Syria’s people will continue to be left with no choice but to migrate.

– Hope πŸ™‚

4 thoughts on “Climate Refugees (2) – Natural Disasters & Droughts

  1. Hi Hope!

    It’s sad to see how the peaceful uprising against the president of Syria transform into a devastating civil war.
    I remember reading about the makeshift oil refineries and how it’s still needed..? But children are working there too. I’m curious what on how much do you think the impacts are disproportionate?

    Thanks!
    Rachel

    1. Hi Rachel!
      Thanks a lot for your comment! I got to read more about this because of your question, and it was interesting to. As you mentioned, makeshift oil refineries are still very widespread in northwest Syria. According to this article, I found out that toxic smoke produced by the refineries has caused air pollution, contaminated water supplies and caused explosions. Public health is also highly compromised, as these refineries have caused respiratory and skin problems among workers and people who live near these infrastructures.

      As you mentioned, vulnerable groups such as children are definitely impacted more, due to their susceptibility to these health problems. The article also highlights that most of these refineries are located in rural areas in small villages, where people are likely to have less access to good healthcare services, and may be of lower income as well, although I’m not sure if this is true in this context. Other than these, I’m not sure if there are more specific groups of people who are disproportionately impacted, but perhaps you can check out this article and others if you’re interested! πŸ™‚

      Just to add on although this doesn’t answer your question – the article also points out how these workers have no choice but to work in these areas due to a lack of alternatives to switch to. With the apathy of the Syrian government, it’s sad to say that I think they will continue to face these injustices.
      – Hope πŸ™‚

  2. Hi Hope,

    This post was a great follow up to Dr Coleman’s lectures. It was really interesting to learn more about the elements and examples of Environmetal Injustice! I was wondering, have governments done anything to tackle environmental injustice?

    Thanks for sharing!

    Rachel

    1. Hi Rachel!
      Great question, thanks for your comment. πŸ™‚ I think my lack of sufficient knowledge relating to environmental laws in different countries prevents me from answering your question holistically, but a few things came to mind! For example, from my research, and the film (A Fierce Green Fire) we watched with Dr Coleman, a lot of things done to tackle env injustice was first started by the affected communities themselves. This was the main focus of environmental movements when they first started (you can refer to this article for a refresher), and I think it may actually be less of a priority to governments.

      In one of my earlier blogs, I mentioned that the Trump Administration rolled back some environmental justice laws. I guess this shows that laws were put in place, especially after it became a huge issue in the 1980s in USA, but much of these things “done” can be undone, and that’s why environmental justice is still an issue in America.

      Additionally, this is just an opinion, but another blog I read mentions that international treaty governance can hinder action against environmental injustice, as they add to inequality and are not designed to protect people and the environment, due to their focus on economic projects.

      Hopefully this was sufficient! – Hope πŸ™‚

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