Public Health and Mental Health Implications of Environmentally Induced Forced Migration

Abstract

Climate change is increasingly forcing population displacement, better described by the phrase environmentally induced forced migration. Rising global temperatures, rising sea levels, increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters, and progressive depletion of life-sustaining resources are among the drivers that stimulate population mobility. Projections forecast that current trends will rapidly accelerate. This will lead to an estimated 200 million climate migrants by the year 2050 and create dangerous tipping points for public health and security.Among the public health consequences of climate change, environmentally induced forced migration is one of the harshest and most harmful outcomes, always involving a multiplicity of profound resource and social losses and frequently exposing migrants to trauma and violence. Therefore, one particular aspect of forced migration, the effects of population displacement on mental health and psychosocial functioning, deserves dedicated focus. Multiple case examples are provided to elucidate this theme. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;page 1 of 7).

Impact of Climate Change on International Health Security: An Intersection of Complexity, Interdependence, and Urgency

“…As a result, we begin to see greater incidence of mass migrations and refugee crises [241,242]. An associated surge in mental disorders and stress related diseases is inextricably tied to such occurrences [243,244]. Given the intersectionality of stress related disorders and their effect on the mental health of populations, it is not surprising that many are being pushed to their coping limits when faced with food insecurity, environmental pollution, increasing frequency of natural disasters, crops failures, and economic and political instability [245].…”

Refugee mental health and human rights: A challenge for global mental health

“…Resource scarcity and loss of territory will in turn drive increased conflict. With no provisions in the current Refugee Convention for those fleeing the widespread impacts of climate change, the global community will face an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the coming years (Berchin et al., 2017; Docherty & Giannini, 2009; Hayes et al., 2018; Shultz et al., 2019).…”

Strategies for Delivering Mental Health Services in Response to Global Climate Change: A Narrative Review

“…Indeed, numerous studies have linked three specific forms of climate change to mental health impacts: (1) acute and extreme weather events (EWEs) and natural disasters, such as hurricanes [ 8 , 12 ], floods [ 13 , 14 ], wildfires [ 15 ], and heat waves lasting for days or weeks [ 16 , 17 ]; (2) sub-acute weather events lasting for months or years such as droughts [ 1 , 2 , 18 , 19 ] and longer-duration heat waves [ 1 , 2 , 20 ]; and (3) and a permanently altered and potentially uninhabitable physical environment that is either too dry or too wet, but ultimately too hot [ 1 , 2 , 4 , 5 , 7 , 9 , 10 ]. Each form of climate change can contribute to an increase in mental health problems that are directly linked to property damage, loss of income and employment opportunities and reduced economic productivity [ 1 , 2 , 19 , 21 ], threats to health and well-being associated with EWE injuries and deaths, spread of infectious diseases and respiratory illnesses, and heat-related stress [ 1 , 2 , 11 ]; population displacement [ 22 ], damage to the natural environment [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 , 19 ], and civil conflicts and episodes of communal violence [ 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Moreover, the distinctions between the three forms of climate change and their mental health impacts are beginning to blur as acute events like wildfires and hurricanes that appear year after year with increasing intensity in the same regions (e.g., wildfires in Australia and the Western United States, hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico) take on the characteristics of long-term sub-acute events such as droughts and generate the same forms of anxiety as long-term climate change [ 26 ,…”