Anticipated Vulnerabilities: Displacement And Migration In The Age Of Climate Change

Carlos Vargas-Ramos and Charles R. Venator-Santiago

Issued June 2020; 60 pages

In 2017, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs unveiled the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program, in an effort to move forward the Commonwealth’s initiative to assist its municipalities in their efforts to assess, anticipate and plan for hazards associated with changes in climate and their vulnerability to those hazards. The MVP program assessed the city’s capability to respond to an influx of migrants driven by a climate change event. This project sought to address the city’s concerns through a multipronged analysis of the experience of the post-hurricane Maria displacement/migration of Puerto Ricans to the City of Holyoke. Included are some of the key findings and recommendations contained in the study.