Climate Change as a Determinant of Migration

Globally between the years 2008 and 2013, 93 million people have had to leave their residences and move due to extreme floods. This influence of climate and extreme weather events has played a significant role in human migration. People forced to flee from climatic disasters and other weather events are referred to as climate migrants or climate refugees. The migration of human population due to climatic events can be traced back to 45,000 years ago. Several factors determine the migration process due to climate change; climatic processes and climatic events. Amongst these, the added burden of decision-making on whether to stay or flee is influenced by their capacity to move, political instability, lack of access to services, discrimination, and unemployment. The health impacts of climate change range from the immediate effects ranging from loss of life, injuries, and lack of access to safe drinking water to infectious diseases and mental health disorders amongst displacement. When India accounted for the second largest disaster displacements in 2018; Kerala, the southern state of India reported more than half these displacements. With its changing weather pattern and incidence of extreme climatic events, the 34.6 million people of Kerala are left with the question of "Are we or are we not going to migrate?".