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In El Salvador, for example, scores each year leave villages because of crop failure from drought or flooding, and end up in cities where they become victims of gang violence and ultimately flee their countries because of those attacks.“It’s hard to say that someone moves just because of climate change. Is everyone who leaves Honduras after a hurricane a climate migrant?” Elizabeth Ferris, a research professor at the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University, wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “And then there are non-climate related environmental hazards - people flee earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis - should they be treated differently than those displaced by weather-related phenomena?”

Despite the challenges, it’s vital that governments identify climate-displaced people, Ferris added.“The whole definitional issue isn’t a trivial question - how can you develop a policy for people if you aren’t clear on who it applies to?” she wrote.INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS

UNHCR published legal guidance in October 2020 that opens the door for offering protection to people displaced by the effects of global warming. It said that climate change should be taken into consideration in certain scenarios when it intersects with violence, though it stopped short of redefining the 1951 Refugee Convention.The commission acknowledged that temporary protection may be insufficient if a country cannot remedy the situation from natural disasters, such as rising seas, suggesting that certain climate displaced people could be eligible for resettlement if their place of origin is considered uninhabitable.

An increasing number of countries are laying the groundwork to become safe havens for climate migrants. In May, Argentina created a special humanitarian visa for people from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean displaced by natural disasters to let them stay for three years.

Shortly after taking office, President Joe Biden ordered his national security adviser to conduct a months-long study that included looking at the “options for protection and resettlement of individuals displaced directly or indirectly from climate change.” A task force was set up, but so far the administration has not adopted such a program.Gianna Young, 7, right, and Isaac Young, 5, pose for a photo on their farm before going to vote with adoptive parents Mike and Erin Young on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Sunbury, Ohio. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Gianna Young, 7, left, Isaac Young, 5, center, and Lucas Young, 8, look at books in the back seat of the truck for the trip to vote with adoptive parents Mike and Erin Young on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Sunbury, Ohio. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)Gianna Young, 7, left, Isaac Young, 5, center, and Lucas Young, 8, look at books in the back seat of the truck for the trip to vote with adoptive parents Mike and Erin Young on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Sunbury, Ohio. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

“Educating our kids why voting for leaders who honor and protect life is very important,” said Erin, who homeschools the children. She notes that she and her husband were told one of their children was born after the child’s biological mother took abortion medication that did not work.The Young children from left, Isaac, Lucas, and Gianna, attend the Ohio March for Life with their mom, Erin Young, at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. All three children are adopted. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)