How are climate change and environmental degradation affecting human migration across borders and within countries? We explore with top experts in this Migration Policy Institute podcast.
Episodes
Tuesday May 26, 2026
Tuesday May 26, 2026
Climate change can be devastating for individuals’ health and safety. Climate-linked natural disasters can cause physical injuries and damage health-care systems, while slow-onset changes such sea-level rise can lead to the spread of disease and make it harder for people to obtain care.
In that context, leaving a climate-vulnerable place can potentially lead to better health outcomes—but only under the right circumstances.
In this episode, we speak with Ilse Ruyssen, an economist at Ghent University and the UN University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies, who leads the CliMigHealth research network.
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Chapters
01:19 Health Vulnerability among Climate Migrants
05:13 Groups at Highest Risk
08:36 When Migration Protects Health
11:51 How Climate Change Directly Harms Health
17:02 Strain on Health-Care Systems
22:18 Countering the "Migrants as Health Risk" Narrative
25:48 Mental Health and Climate Displacement
27:48 What to Do?