Article Author:
Reuters
David Sherfinski, Thomson Reuters Foundation
* U.S. immigrants are seen as important community players
* Nonprofit Organizations provide training and jobs and offer community programs
* Migration is set to increase globally as climate change worsens
David Sherfinski
WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – When Benetick Kabua Maddison moved to the United States, the six-year-old boy from the Marshall Islands partly because of the effects of global warming. Flooding had damaged his home on a low-lying Pacific island, and his family sought better opportunities abroad.
Twenty years later, Madison, settling in Springdale, northwest Arkansas (a refuge for Marshall immigrants), is rocked by wild weather that becomes increasingly harsh as the earth heats up. born again as a member of the community
The city of about 87,000 is coping with extreme cold and heat, flash floods, and radioactive fallout from a rare and devastating tornado that struck the region in March. increase.
"The community was unprepared when the tornado hit," said the 27-year-old woman, who struggled to cope with the devastation of collapsing roofs and broken car windows. I remembered my family.
"Climate change isn't going to happen tomorrow, next week or next month. It's already happening," Madison said in a Thomson Reuters Foundation video call.
From California to New York, parts of the United States experiencing an influx of climate migrants teach newly displaced populations how to be more resilient to more frequent disasters. are beginning to seek lessons about by temperature rise.
Madison is executive director of the Marshall Education Initiative (MEI), a non-profit that seeks to improve emergency response and communication on climate-related issues, among other cultural awareness efforts. is.
"Part of what we have done with her MEI is to educate communities, especially young people, about climate change. It is already affecting our country, our islands. I have," Madison said.
Such lessons are being taught nationwide. In Buffalo, New York, Asian and African immigrants brought vertical farming techniques that could better withstand high heat and other climate-related effects. It is our immigrants and refugees who are able to grow an incredible amount of food in the region,” said Rahwa Ghirmatzion, Executive Director of PUSH Buffalo.https://thesolutionsproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/PUSH-Buffalo_Case-Study-FINAL.pdf,社会正義擁護団体。
Born in Eritrea in 1976, Ghirmatzion said, "In one season he can do three to four harvests, and they use recycled material." You can use a lot to do that." and whose family fled during the civil war.
While many cite political instability as a reason for leaving their countries of origin, Ghirmatzion notes that climatic stresses such as heat waves and droughts, and the spillover effects on food supplies and civil wars https://news.trust.org/item/20220721100310-r4sdx said to be another major factor.
UNLIQUELY BONDS
Further south along the U.S. Gulf Coast, the non-profit Resilience Force https://resilienceforce.org has an immigrant-driven workforce that We are prepared for extreme weather and disasters. Homes for people internally displaced by hurricanes and floods.
Many of its workers were immigrants from Honduras who fled after climate change impacts such as hurricane aggravation and drought hit the local economy, founding groups from New Delhi said. said Saket Soni, who
He said their efforts were even able to change attitudes among the skeptical population of the American South.
It is a “relationship between Honduran immigrants and people who have never spoken to immigrants before or who may see them as a threat or ‘unwelcome in the community’.”
Organizations like these are linked to climate-related problems that will get worse in the future as global temperatures rise, Soni added. It works against the backdrop of increasing pressures that exacerbate evacuations.
Her more than one billion people around the world are at risk of being displaced by natural disasters by 2050, further spurring migration to developed countries such as the United States. May be the Institute for Economic & Peace.
The Climate Justice Collaborative https://partnershipfornewamericans.org/programs/climate-justice-collaborative,, an initiative within the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), is at the forefront of preparing immigrant voices to smooth out this kind of upheaval. This is one of the groups working to ensure that
Affiliates, for example, say they publish early warning systems in multiple languages and strive to make a "just transition" for migrant workers in the fossil fuel industry. Stated. NPNA's Stephanie Teatro.
"We have seen what is possible when governments and communities see migration as a solution, and extraordinary things can be done to make people feel welcome," she said. said, referring to his goodwill to those fleeing Russia's war in Ukraine.
``They are visionaries.''
Meanwhile, on the West Coast, advocates in California told public officials to create a so-called ``resilience hub'' https://news.trust.org/item/20210615105018-lzd8j」への資金提供を増やすよう要請している。移民主導のイニシアチブを通じて、気候関連の影響に対して地域を準備します。
https://news.trust.org/item/20210615105018-lzd8j」への資金提供を増やすよう要請している。移民主導のイニシアチブを通じて、気候関連の影響に対して地域を準備します。 89} This approach strengthens respected local organizations, such as churches and community centers, to prepare for, respond to, and recover from crises such as hurricanes, heat waves, pandemics, and unrest.The state recently allocated at least $100 million for resilience hubs, with strong input from migrants from Asia and climate justice groups such as the Asia Pacific Environment Network (APEN).
93} The funds could support the development of 10 to 20 projects statewide, for example providing new solar panels or batteries or emergency response services, proponents say.For immigrant and refugee communities, "It is imperative that these places feel safe...they are visionaries in the design of what these facilities look like." said Amee Raval, APEN's Director of Policy and Research.
"And it's for them." Despite decades of settlement, gaps still exist when it comes to health equity, housing opportunities and emergency warning systems for weather-related disasters.
Madison plans to eventually return to the Marshall Islands after leaving school to pursue his political career. Here, he believes government officials are unlikely to take a different view of climate change. Ready.
In the meantime, he will continue to raise awareness "at the local, national and even international levels" about the issues affecting his community in Arkansas.
"Because these problems are happening to us," he added.
Originally published in: https://news.trust.org/item/20220819091003-r90hp (Reporting by David Sherfinski; Editing by Kieran Guilbert and Megan Rowling. Credit to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Thomson Reuters that covers the lives of people around the world. praise) Visit http://news.trust.org)
