Chapel Hill, N.C. – University students and faculty gathered in the Fedex Global Center last Monday to hear speaker María Christina García’s commentary on climate-driven migration following hurricane Fiona’s devastation in Puerto Rico.
The lecture covered several reasons why climate issues disproportionately affect Caribbean and Central American nations, and how if their infrastructure needs are not met, these areas will be left behind both figuratively and literally as locals move away from the hazardous climate.
García highlighted how the poor areas of Puerto Rico have still yet to recover from hurricane Maria in 2017, and the introduction of another large disaster is only adding insult to injury.
Wealthier, European nations are better equipped to handle the repercussions of climate change than Caribbean and Central American countries.
Julio Guttierez is a Ph.D. candidate at UNC-CH who attended García’s lecture.
He said, “From Puerto Rico for instance, there’s also a lot of migration because of the disasters happening, but also because the underlying structures that are causing the migration, causing these places to be more vulnerable to environmental change.”
Guttierez said that there are some serious infrastructure needs for nations world wide if climate change is not more seriously addressed.