Extreme weather is causing an increase in undocumented migration between the United States and Mexico, suggesting more migrants could put their lives at risk crossing the border as the climate crisis causes droughts, severe storms and other adversities, a new study has found.

The researchers discovered that people from Mexico’s agricultural regions were more likely to travel across the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in the wake of droughts. And when extreme weather conditions continued, they were not as likely to return to their original communities.

“As the world’s climate continues to change, human populations are exposed to increasingly severe and extreme weather conditions that can promote migration,” the study’s authors wrote. “The findings… suggest that extreme weather conditions, which are likely to increase with climate change, promote clandestine mobility across borders and, thus, expose migrants to risks associated with crossing dangerous terrain.”

All over the world, human-caused climate change from the burning of fossil fuels like natural gas and coal is exacerbating extreme weather. Droughts are becoming drier and longer, high temperatures are becoming more deadly and storms are intensifying rapidly while unleashing record amounts of rain.

In Mexico, drought has dried up reservoirs, creating severe water shortages and greatly reduced corn production, which threatens livelihoods, reported Phys.org.

The researchers said Mexico — a country of more than 128 million people — has an average annual temperature that is predicted to rise as much as three degrees Celsius by 2060. Rural communities that depend on rain-fed agriculture are likely to be economically devastated by global heating.

Mexico and the U.S. have the largest flow of international migration on Earth, and scientists predict it will expand as the planet warms. In the coming three decades, 143 million people around the world are likely to be forced to relocate due to soaring temperatures, drought, sea-level rise and other climate disasters, a report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said.

Migration “is not a decision that people take up lightly… and yet they’re being forced to make it more, and they’re being forced to stay longer in the United States” due to climate extremes, said co-author of the study Filiz Garip, a sociology and international affairs professor at Princeton University, as Phys.org reported.

Garip said advanced countries have contributed much more to the climate crisis than the developing nations that bear the brunt.

The research team looked at daily weather data and responses from 48,313 individuals surveyed from 1992 to 2018, focusing on approximately 3,700 people who crossed the border undocumented for the first time.

The team analyzed 84 Mexican agricultural communities where corn farming was weather-dependent. They linked an individual’s decision to migrate and return with abnormal temperature and rainfall changes in their communities of origin during the corn growing season, which runs from May to August.

The researchers discovered that drought-affected communities had higher rates of migration in comparison with communities with normal rainfall. People were also less likely to go back to Mexico after having migrated to the U.S. when their communities of origin were abnormally wet or dry. The same was true whether the migrants had recently arrived in the U.S. or had been there longer.

The finding that decisions to return to communities of origin had been delayed by extreme weather conditions is “important and novel,” according to Hélène Benveniste, a Stanford University professor in the department of environmental social sciences, as reported by Phys.org.

“Few datasets enable an analysis of this question,” Benveniste said.

Increased enforcement and surveillance along the border between Mexico and the U.S. makes returning, as well as traveling back and forth, harder, said Michael Méndez, an environmental policy and planning professor at University of California, Irvine, who was not involved with the study.

Once undocumented migrants cross the border into the U.S., they frequently lack healthcare, live in dilapidated housing or work in industries like agriculture and construction that expose them to additional climate impacts, Méndez said.

As the climate crisis threatens the world’s social, economic and political stability, experts said the study underscores a global need for collaboration concerning migration and climate resilience.

“So much of our focus has been, in a way, on the border and securing the border,” said Kerilyn Schewel, co-director of the Program on Climate, Resilience and Mobility at Duke University, as Phys.org reported. “But we need much more attention to not only the reasons why people are leaving, but also the demand for immigrant workers within the U.S.”

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Photos of wildlife on social media have the power to boost conservation by depicting predators not only as beautiful, but as similar to domestic pets.

A new study has found that, through their millions of followers, Instagram and Facebook can steer public engagement and awareness toward support for predators like wildcats, who are sometimes shot and poisoned by farmers.

The research was based on the caracal wildcat — a native of Africa with prominent, tufted ears — whose similarity to house cats has brought thousands of followers to internet streams about conserving the elegant felines, a press release from Taylor & Francis said.

The researchers point out that “charismatic” smaller mammals like the caracal can be “flagship species” for getting the word out about the purposes of scientific research in areas that are rapidly urbanizing.

“Using an aesthetic species such as the caracal is an effective way to capture public attention to communicate the importance of conserving urban wildlife,” said Drs. Laurel Serieys and Gabriella Leighton with the Urban Caracal Project (UCP) and the University of Cape Town in the press release.

The findings suggest the graceful carnivore’s online appeal is connected with viral images, memes and videos of cats.

Improved public engagement is important for achieving conservation aims, particularly in biodiversity hotspots. Many species are unique to these regions, as well as endangered, and threatened areas are becoming increasingly urbanized and understudied.

A caracal on the steps of a garden of an urban edge property in Smitswinkel on the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. Anya Adendorff

Cape Town is home to the caracal, as well as a biodiversity hotspot. Caracals are elusive mammals who are viewed by livestock farmers in other parts of South Africa as pests.

The UCP was established in December of 2014 to explore caracal ecology. The project uses social media to influence perceptions and awareness of urban caracal conservation. UCP is run by researchers hosted by University of Cape Town’s Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa.

Most of the interactions regarding UCP’s works are communicated through social media, though the project also has a website.

The authors of the study assessed caracals’ global popularity between 2004 and the present using Google Trends, both before and following the establishment of UCP. They compared the interest in caracals with that of the serval, a similar wild cat from Africa.

The authors also used recent Instagram and Facebook data to look at all the material UCP had posted, along with direct public engagement like reporting caracal rescues, sightings and findings of deceased individuals.

The results showed twice as much interest in “caracal” as a term since the launching of UCP. This represented a 91 percent increase in comparison with that of “servals,” which grew by 76 percent during the same period.

The authors said the results suggested UCP had helped increase global awareness of caracals as a species.

Two caracals in the fynbos vegetation of the Cape Point reserve in the southern part of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. Gilbert Reinhardt

Other evidence included the project’s now 7,300 followers on Instagram and 16,800 on Facebook, which represent “micro-influencer” status. Most UCP followers are from South Africa, but include those from India, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The authors said deaths of caracals reported by the public — frequently through social media or WhatsApp — allow them to assess threats to the population, as well as roadkill patterns, through post-mortems.

Samples taken for the conducting of tissue analysis have been collected from areas that would have been otherwise unreachable if it weren’t for the citizen network. These investigations have revealed that caracals are exposed to poisonous pesticides and pollutants.

Facebook comments and sightings give conservationists useful information about how the African wildcats respond to humans. Most caracal encounters with humans happen on paths or roads, with caracals being described as “calm” or “chilled” before quickly moving away.

The most frequently used positive adjective to describe caracals in Facebook comments is “beautiful,” in addition to “sad” on negative posts — most often in response to the death of an individual caracal or a threat to their population. The authors said this shows how much engagement on social media has resulted in people caring about the welfare of caracals.

“This paper contributes to our understanding of the various ways in which the public can participate in science. It shows how charismatic species can contribute to conservation and public awareness of biodiversity in urban areas,” Serieys and Leighton said. “The research demonstrates how a public interest in urban ecology and the global phenomenon of ‘cats on the internet’… can be harnessed to leverage conservation action.”

The study, “Wild Cats on the Internet: The Role of Social Media in Popularising Caracals in South Africa,” was published in the journal Environmental Communication and will be part of its special issue, Affective Encounters: Storying in South African Ecological Communication.

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The voices of the night, coyotes are incredibly resilient, even in the face of mounting environmental pressures.

A new study has found that the baying omnivores — the most successful predators in North America — are thriving and becoming even more successful, despite hunting, human development and competition with larger carnivores like pumas and black bears, a press release from University of New Hampshire (UNH) said.

In the study, researchers with UNH’s New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station (NHAES) give a detailed assessment of coyotes’ response to the threats they face in their ever-changing habitat.

“Once a rare sight in the northeastern United States, the eastern coyote has become a common presence across New Hampshire’s forests, farms and suburbs,” the press release said. “First arriving in the state in the 1940s from the Midwest, these predators have since spread throughout every county and are keen adapters to regular interactions with humans, livestock and larger carnivores.”

The research team used data collected from 4,587 camera traps set up all over the country by SNAPSHOT USA — a national project that uses coordinated camera arrays to collect wildlife data from across the lower 48 States.

To their surprise, the researchers discovered that the hunting of coyotes may actually help increase their numbers.

“Intensive coyote removal can obviously reduce populations in the short-term, but removal can also result in younger coyote populations with higher reproduction and immigration rates,” explained co-author of the study Remington Moll, NHAES scientist and assistant professor of wildlife ecology and management at UNH, in the press release. “In our study, we detected more coyotes in places where hunting was allowed. This change occurred over several years, suggesting that, on average, hunting did not reduce coyote abundance and perhaps increased it locally in certain areas.”

The findings of the study, “People or predators? Comparing habitat‐dependent effects of hunting and large carnivores on the abundance of North America’s top mesocarnivore,” were published in the journal Ecography.

The team found that larger carnivores had an influence on coyote numbers, depending on the habitat. For instance, pumas led to smaller populations of coyotes in more open environments, while the presence of black bears resulted in fewer coyotes in forested areas.

“Our work suggests that promoting the recovery of large carnivores, especially in certain habitats, is more likely to reduce coyote numbers than people directly hunting them,” said co-author Roland Kays, a research professor with the College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University.

Kays said the study can help better inform coyote management strategies by demonstrating which factors have the biggest impact on their populations.

The largest number of coyotes were found in grasslands and landscapes that provide ample shelter and prey, like agricultural operations. Coyote populations varied in urban areas, depending on their scale. Smaller, local urban development had a tendency to reduce coyote numbers because of increased habitat fragmentation and human presence. Larger, suburban-scale development, on the other hand, led to thriving coyote populations, as they benefited from fragmented edges and habitats offering access to natural and human-modified resources.

The study noted large regional variations in populations of coyotes across the U.S., with lower numbers in the Northeast and especially high numbers in the Southwest. These differences reflect the influence of each region’s diverse geographical and ecological characteristics.

“Many of the ecological relationships we found were expected,” Kays said. “But now that we have quantified them and can map them out across the country, we’re able to provide the first abundance map of our country’s most important predator.”

The researchers incorporated data from the SNAPSHOT USA camera traps in one of the largest studies of coyote populations ever conducted. The data allowed them to look at the effects of hunting practices, suburban expansion, habitat type and competition with larger carnivores on coyote populations.

“The impressive SNAPSHOT USA project provides a yearly glimpse into our nation’s wildlife thanks to hundreds of researchers and the coordination by the Smithsonian and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences,” Moll said. “By combining data from cameras with satellite-derived habitat metrics and advanced statistical models, we got an unprecedented look into continent-scale trends for this fascinating species.”

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A drought in much of South America impacts more than 420,000 children living in the Amazon basin, according to new estimates from UNICEF.

The record-breaking drought — ongoing since last year — has left rivers in the region at an all-time low, a press release from UNICEF said.

The lack of rain has affected river transportation and water supplies for Indigenous children and their communities in Colombia, Brazil and Peru. Families use the rivers to access and transport water, food, fuel and medical supplies. The children also use them to travel to school.

“For centuries the Amazon has been home to precious natural resources. We are witnessing the devastation of an essential ecosystem that families rely on, leaving many children without access to adequate food, water, health care and schools,” said Executive Director of UNICEF Catherine Russell in the press release.

Food insecurity caused by the drought has increased malnutrition risk in the region’s children, while restricted access to drinking water could lead to an increase in infectious diseases, UNICEF said, as AFP reported.

“Food insecurity caused by drought increases the risk of malnutrition, stunting and wasting, and death in children,” the press release said. “Research has also found that pregnant women who experience droughts are likely to have children with lower birth weights.”

In the Brazilian Amazon, more than 760 medical clinics and over 1,700 schools have become inaccessible or were forced to close due to low river levels.

In addition to essential health, child protection and education services being drastically disrupted in the region, fishing and agricultural livelihoods have also been interrupted, putting lives at risk.

“In the Colombian Amazon, river water levels have dropped by up to 80 per cent, restricting access to drinking water and food supplies, and leading to the suspension of in-person classes for children at more than 130 schools. In turn, this has increased children’s risk of recruitment, use and exploitation by non-state armed groups, and has also led to increased respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, malaria, and acute malnutrition among children under age 5,” UNICEF said.

According to the latest field assessment by UNICEF, half of families across 14 communities in Brazil’s Southern Amazon said their children are not currently in school because of the drought.

Loreto in Northeastern Peru is the most drought-affected region in the country, putting remote, mostly Indigenous communities that are already vulnerable at risk. The drought has caused over 50 healthcare centers there to become inaccessible.

Wildfires in Peru, often started by humans but made worse by the past two months of drought, have brought unprecedented biodiversity loss and devastation in 22 of Peru’s 26 regions, as well as increased air pollution regionally and locally.

The Amazon is the planet’s largest and most diverse tropical rainforest.

UNICEF estimates it will take $10 million in the coming months to address drought-affected communities’ most urgent needs in Colombia, Peru and Brazil. This will include distributing water and additional essential supplies, strengthening the resilience of local public services and community-based systems in affected Indigenous communities and the mobilization of health brigades.

“We must mitigate the effects of extreme climate crises to protect children today and future generations. The health of the Amazon affects the health of us all,” Russell said. 

Ahead of the COP29 United Nations Climate Change Conference next week, UNICEF is asking leaders to carry out four critical actions for young people and children, including ensuring that the COP29 Cover Decision addresses the disproportionate and unique impact climate change has on children; securing a dramatic increase in funding for adaptation, loss and damage and climate financing for children; guaranteeing that all Nationally Determined Contributions are sensitive to children and respond to the disproportionate impact climate change has on them; and empowering young people and children to meaningfully participate and be present in decision-making on climate at all levels.

“In all parts of the world, children face devastating consequences of climate crises,” Russell emphasized. “We are at a critical juncture. Children must be at the center of our climate negotiations.”

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Leaders from some of the world’s major economies, including the European Union, the United States and Brazil, will not be attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, this month.

COP29, which will convene from November 11 to 22, is expected to have more than 40,000 delegates in attendance.

European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will not attend the summit to prepare for a second term in office, reported The Guardian. Instead, a team of negotiators, including energy commissioner Kadri Simson and climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, will represent the commission at the talks.

Shirley Matheson, climate specialist at WWF, said the absence of von der Leyen brought up “serious questions” about the international and European commitment to battling the climate crisis.

“We cannot afford for climate action to move down on Europe’s agenda,” Matheson said.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — who had already canceled his trip after suffering a head injury last month — will also be absent at the conference, Reuters reported.

Li Shuo, Asia Society Policy Institute’s climate diplomacy expert, said actions by countries to marshall more funds for fighting climate change would be paramount.

“What matters most is leadership. Leaders should always be at the COP. But more important than their presence is the real commitments countries bring to the table,” Shuo said, as reported by Reuters.

Mexico, Australia, China and Japan are also not listed in the most recent United Nations agenda for speeches by leaders at this year’s climate talks.

Climate diplomats have said the reelection of Republican Donald Trump — who removed the U.S. from the Paris Agreement when he was president the first time — could hinder a consensus on a substantial increase in climate funding at COP29.

Greenpeace is calling for a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) at COP29. The NCQG represents a commitment to significantly increase public financing for developing countries to help with climate change mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage, as well as making major polluters like the fossil fuel industry pay for the harms they have caused, a press release from Greenpeace International said.

“The NCQG is expected to set the terms determining who pays for the burgeoning costs of climate action over the next decade and beyond and whether countries and communities least responsible for causing the climate crisis get the support they urgently need and are entitled to,” said Tracy Carty, Greenpeace International climate politics expert, in the press release. “Trillions of dollars are needed for the climate action plans of developing countries. The headline outcome of the NCQG needs to be an unambiguous commitment from rich developed countries to significantly increase public finance to support developing countries to respond to escalating climate impacts and transition to renewables.”

The Group of 20 Summit — where the world’s leading economies gather to discuss the financing of the climate transition — will be held from November 18 to 19, 2024, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, overlapping with the COP29 climate summit.

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