Climate change-induced natural disasters such as hurricanes, landslides, forest fires, and changes in precipitation directly affect rural sectors that depend on field production and other dimensions of everyday life.
This scoping review examines the health effects of climate change on environmental migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region where evidence on this topic remains limited.
The review analyzes 31 studies identified from PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Findings show that climate change affects migrants across three main dimensions: health and healthcare, psychosocial well-being, and infrastructure. Health impacts include limited access to care, underdiagnosis, increased disease vulnerability, and mental health conditions such as stress and anxiety.
Psychosocial effects involve heightened risks of gender-based violence, social marginalization, family separation, and loss of cultural identity, while infrastructural impacts include environmental degradation and the destruction of agricultural and urban systems.
The review also documents adaptive responses among migrant populations and offers recommendations for improvement, highlighting the significant and multidimensional consequences of climate change for migrants in the region.
Learn more about this review here: https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2024.1412285
Reference
Cabieses, B., & Huerta, C. (2024). Effects of climate change on migration in Latin America and Caribbean: A scoping review. Frontiers in Climate, Volume 6-2024