Climate Migration as Climate Resilience: A Case Study of Orlando, Florida

September 2024
Citation:
54
ELR 10736
Issue
9
Author
Natalie Lara

As the United States and the global community figure out how to address climate migration, local governments can and have already been preparing for it. Planning for climate migrants is a part of climate resilience. This Comment calls on local governments, community groups, and individuals to make a stand for how their communities will address climate change, focusing on climate migration. Local governments have tremendous power when it comes to future development. With their land use authority, these governments can adopt plans to better accommodate climate migrants or climate-displaced persons. As hurricanes or other environmental disasters reveal and worsen existing social inequalities, local governments are in a special position to accommodate climate-displaced persons. 

Natalie Lara is a 2025 J.D. candidate at Pace University’s Elisabeth Haub School of Law.