ABSTRACT
Global environmental change is more extreme than at any other time in recorded history. Its local realities increasingly uproot large numbers of people. Global climate change is increasingly accepted by both the scientific community and the general public as a reality that must be addressed in both policy and practice. The recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change affirm that human-induced factors are responsible for generating significant increases in temperatures around the world. The environmental degradation of local ecosystems compounded by the local effects of global climate change can result in the loss of sufficient resources and other ecosystem services. The catastrophic losses from Hurricane Katrina demonstrate the urgent need to develop the conceptual, strategic, and material tools to confront the increasing challenges of population displacement and resettlement from natural hazards made even more potent and complex by climate change, increasing population densities, and environmental degradation in the twenty-first century.
