Social Work and Support for Climate-Related Indigenous Migrants from South America
This article examines how climate change is forcing Indigenous migration across South America, and how US-based social workers can respond through an Indigenous feminist and structural lens.
Summary
This article examines how climate-driven droughts, deforestation and water scarcity are forcing Indigenous communities across South American into internal and international migration. Analysis is drawn from three case composites from social work practice in the Brazilian Amazon, Peruvian Andes, and Colombian Caribbean, as well as Indigenous feminist and structural social work frameworks. Long-term goals for this work include advancing legal protections for climate refugees and building US-based social workers’ capacity to intervene at the mezzo and macro levels. Solutions include health promoter partnerships, policy advocacy, and interdisciplinary collaboration that centers Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. The project is authored by researchers at Loyola University Chicago, Erikson Institute, and Simmons University. It calls for social work education to incorporate ecosocial work curriculum so practitioners are equipped to address climate change, forced migration, and environmental justice.
Join the Erikson family with monthly news + events updates shared by academics, community members, and families.
Change the World for Children
Join the Erikson Institute community and discover the difference one person can make.