Climate change is already displacing people in Oregon. A UN report warns of more to come

Thousands of Oregonians have already been displaced by climate change, which is reshaping landscapes and livelihoods around the globe, according to an Oregon State University associate professor who joined almost 300 researchers to create an assessment released this week by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

And that’s on top of voluntary relocations that may not even intentionally take climate change into account, despite being guided by it, OSU’s David Wrathall told OPB.

For example, somebody considering a move to California’s Sierra mountains might opt instead to relocate to a region with fewer forest fires, Wrathall said.

“They might not associate their movements with climate change. ... But on the other hand, we might have people who are forced to move. These are displaced people,” he said.

“We know that in every region on Earth, people are already moving, with a range of agency involved in their choices about migration. Even in Oregon, here, there’s estimated around 4,000 people displaced in moving as a result of recent forest fires.”