UC Berkeley Researcher Discusses Climate Driven Migration

Speaker 1: 00:00 The effects of climate change do not respect people or places everyone will be affected by the new normal of a warming planet. But it is true that people who have been living on the margins will feel the impacts first and possibly worse. The humanitarian crisis at our border is being fueled to some extent by a changing climate. Churning me via Skype is UC Berkeley researcher, Michael Bacall, Co, founder of the nonprofit vociferous, Imano [inaudible] and Michael, welcome to the program. Thanks so much for having me on the show marine. Now we've heard a lot about gangs and violence driving people to leave their homes and Central America, but your research in Guatemala found that climate change is one big reason farmers are leaving. What's happening to the weather in Guatemala that's forcing this migration? So what we've done Speaker 2: 00:51 scene in Guatemala is that over the past several years in particular, since 2014 farmers in the area where we work, which is called the dry corridor, have been reporting prolonged periods of drought. And what this means is that people have essentially lost the primary means that they have of sustaining their families, which is their corn crop. And in fact, in the area of Guatemala where I work, it's estimated that around 80% of the crop yield this year from corn will be lost as a result of these prolonged periods of drought. Speaker 1: 01:28 So it's the farmers who were basically living on what they could grow, who can sustain their existence and are leaving. Speaker 2: 01:37 That's exactly right. Indigenous Mayan farmers predominantly rely on subsistence agriculture. There's not much expendable income. And so when the primary means that people have to sustain themselves is wiped out, it means that people are in a very, very precarious situation where they have a very difficult time feeding their families. Speaker 1: 02:02 And what you found in your research is that this, this longer period of drought is compounding existing problems that were already part and parcel of Guatemala's existence. And one of them, for instance, being malnutrition. Tell us about that. Speaker 2: 02:20 So overall in Guatemala, around 50% of children experienced malnutrition. But when you look in the rural Highland areas, the predominantly Mayan areas, that rate of malnutrition climbs as high as 70% so we're talking about roughly two and every three children experiences chronic malnutrition. Now to, to address this question of how this is compounded by climate change and sort of the root causes of these issues. You know, when you think about a country that is experiencing famine, if you think about a country where two thirds of parents unable to feed their children, what probably comes to mind is a country that is experiencing desertification. A country that is landlocked. But if you travel through Guatemala, what you see is fertile agricultural lands. They are, it has access to ports on both sides of its country. And so it's, it's quite a paradox that you would see malnutrition rates so high in a country that has such abundant natural resources. And you can only unravel that paradox if you understand how throughout the history of Guatemala lands have been taken, captured, stolen from indigenous communities. Fact in Guatemala, 2% of the population controls 70% of the land. It's a staggering figure. Speaker 1: 03:50 So the farmers find themselves with the smallest amount and the least productive land, no modern farming methods, no irrigation. And when it stops raining, they have nothing Speaker 2: 04:03 that that's exactly correct. And on top of that, the Trump administration is now cutting aid to programs that that provided at least some minimal level of assistance for farmers living in these precarious situations. Speaker 1: 04:18 What can be done to turn this situation around? Speaker 2: 04:21 So I think there's three important things that the United States needs to do and that we as citizens of this country need to demand. The first is that we need to completely rethink the way we approach our immigration and refugee policy. It's unacceptable morally, ethically, and when you consider the United States as historical responsibility for driving migration in the first place. The second thing that we have to do is we need to dramatically pursue a course of action that will lead us to reduce our overall emissions of greenhouse gases. And I find that groups like the sunrise movement who are calling for a green new deal, I think that their approach is exactly right on the target. But then the third thing that we have to do is that we have to recognize that frontline communities such as the community where I work in Guatemala, but also communities throughout the United States and around the world, are going to be experiencing the brunt of these climate effects. And so we need to take an equity approach, which means prioritizing resources to those communities that are, that, that are going to be most directly affected. Speaker 1: 05:40 I've been speaking with UC Berkeley researcher, Michael Bacall. Michael, thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me on the show.