Climate change,social justice,and dislocation in the United States:Recommendations for Policy Makers

Abstract

This policy brief discusses the challenges of dislocation in the United States and offers policy recommendations for how the United States can become better prepared and protect its most vulnerable communities.

The 2022 International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on climate adaptation found that climate change has caused “substantial damages” and “increasingly irreversible losses” in terrestrial, freshwater, and coastal ecosystems with adverse impacts on food and water security. Climate change is increasingly contributing to humanitarian crises where climate hazards coincide with highly vulnerable populations and has perpetuated vulnerability through displacement and involuntary migration. In many regions of the US, the legacies of segregation and lower housing costs mean that low-income and socially vulnerable communities are more likely to live in high-risk areas. In order to address the issue of climate-related displacement and the risks it might pose for human and national security, the US government needs to embrace the concept of internal displacement as a domestic phenomenon.

Climate-change-social-justice-and-dislocation-in-the-United-States.pdf

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Originally Published: https://sites.tufts.edu/cierp/publications/

Suggested citation:

Lazetic, Marina; Jacobsen, Karen, “Climate change, social justice, and dislocation in the United States: Recommendations for Policy Makers.” Policy Brief, Climate Policy Lab, The Fletcher School, April 2022.