Climate migration crisis: too few people can afford to move, not too many are moving

A new book challenges conventional thinking about climate migration, arguing that the real problem isn’t mass exodus from climate-vulnerable regions, but rather that too many people remain trapped in increasingly dangerous areas due to poverty and restrictive immigration policies.

Author Julian Hattem’s “Shelter from the Storm” presents compelling evidence from Guatemala’s drought-stricken Dry Corridor, where families like Elena’s face an impossible choice. Despite escalating climate impacts—failed harvests, rising costs, and deteriorating conditions—the 38-year-old mother of seven cannot afford the thousands of dollars needed to migrate to the United States. The financial risks are too great: families must often use their land as collateral for smugglers’ fees, and deportation could leave them worse off than before.

Yet migration, when possible, creates powerful benefits for both migrants and their home communities. Guatemalan migrants typically see wages increase three to six times, and their remittances—totaling more than all of Guatemala’s exports combined—fund crucial climate adaptations back home. Hattem observed modern infrastructure and climate-resilient housing throughout Guatemala, largely financed by money sent from abroad. One woman used her son’s remittances from New York to build a new home away from eroding hillsides.

This research suggests that facilitating safe, legal migration pathways could be a crucial climate adaptation strategy. Rather than viewing climate migration as a crisis to prevent, policymakers might consider it a solution that helps vulnerable populations escape danger while providing resources to protect those who remain behind.