Displaced Populations

Causes

Population displacements result from numerous causes. They bear the imprints of those causes and unfold variously until they are resolved through relocation or absorption of the population at the arrival site. The causes of population displacements became more diverse during and after the Cold War, resulting in vastly increased numbers of displaced people. Social scientists distinguish five clusters of causes of population displacements: (1) Populations are displaced by wars, civil wars, and political turmoil; (2) populations are displaced by organized persecution—ethnic, religious, racial; (3) populations are displaced by environmental disasters—droughts, famines, floods, desertification, earthquakes, and so forth; (4) populations are displaced by development programs that change land use or water use and build major new infrastructure; and (5) populations are displaced by the disintegration and disappearance of state structures.

Consequences

Although the causes of population displacement range along a wide spectrum, the consequences of displacement for the affected populations tend to have many commonalities: massive loss and destruction of assets, in many cases including loss of life; sudden drop in welfare and standards of living; prolonged uprooting, alienation, and unemployment; culture and identity loss; severe long-term psychological effects; and so forth. Almost all displacements involve human rights and civil rights infringements. Research has found that effects are even more severe on women than on men and on particularly vulnerable population segments such as children, the elderly, or indigenous groups.

In turn, at arrival sites displaced populations impose two sets of high risks: risks to the host population and [Page 416]risks to the environment. Increased population densities at arrival sites increase competition for resources and jobs; further, some relocation processes exceed the carrying capacity (the population that an area will support without deterioration) of the environment and entail unsustainable use of limited natural resources, soil erosion, deforestation, and so forth.

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