Last year, the World Bank estimated that some 200 million people worldwide may migrate in coming decades in response to stressors exacerbated by climate change. While climate-driven migration will undoubtedly be traumatic for the victims, a few U.S. communities—including Great Lakes coastal cities such as Duluth, Minnesota and Buffalo, New York—have openly wondered whether it might also be an opportunity.
Compared to the drought- and wildfire-ravaged U.S. West, the hurricane-susceptible Gulf of Mexico states and the sea level rise-exposed East and West coasts, the Great Lakes region may fare relatively well in the face of a changing climate—thanks in part to abundant fresh water and projected milder wintertime temperatures in the future, say Van Berkel and colleagues.
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s national risk index, most neighborhoods in the Great Lakes rank well below the national risk average for exposure to 18 natural hazards—from avalanches to volcanic activity and wildfires.
With federal funding from GLISA, the Great Lakes Integrated Science and Assessment project, Van Berkel and colleagues are developing web-based tools—formally known as a public participatory GIS system—to help residents, planners and researchers visualize various in-migration scenarios.
https://news.umich.edu/study-web-based-tools-can-help-great-lakes-region-plan-for-potential-influx-of-climate-change-migrants/