A lecture given by Elma Kaiser who is an assistant professor of social work who has done research with displaced persons and people.
What does it mean to be displaced from a place? Usually this concept is related to forced aspects and conditions. Just to give an example, there are people who are refugees, or those who have an immigration status or situation. But it is important, says Kaiser, to make a distinction between what it means to be a displaced person, which can be internal or external; and what it means to be a migrant and a refugee. It is also important, according to the doctor, to make a distinction between what is a "voluntary" migration that in many occasions occurs when the person who decides to leave his country or his place of origin does so in search of a better quality of life, and at the same time taking into account the impact that this change/displacement can have on his lifestyle and to a certain extent on his culture and customs.
This is different from forced migration which is usually caused, among many other factors, by environmental reasons such as disasters. According to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and also shared by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), more than 65 million people around the world have been forced to move during 2017. This can be seen in the various historical events such as wars, genocides or violence and armed conflict in the different countries that have rates of forced displacement.
In addition, deforestation, drought and rising sea levels are the climatic factors that influence a person's forced displacement. Such is the case of many countries in Central America and the Caribbean, such as Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, which in addition to being plagued by violence and often poverty, the climate impact has been decisive in choosing to leave the country of origin. This was stated by an interviewee of The Weather Climate program "against mother nature we can't do anything".