Across 2025–2026, the UC Disaster Resilience Network (UCDRN), UC Berkeley’s Institute for Security in Governance (ISG), and the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) partnered to present a four-part expert-panel series on Climate Change and Human Mobility. Across four events, researchers, policy experts, and practitioners examined how climate-driven disasters intersect with migration, displacement, and relocation.
Panel #1
Climate Change and Human Migration
Jesse Keenan (Tulane University), Valerie Mueller (Arizona State University), and Daniel Swain (UC ANR) discussed the big questions about why, how, and where people are moving to in response to changing patterns of exposure to climate and disaster risks, both within California and U.S. borders, and beyond.
Panel #2
Housing Costs, Insurance Rates, and Rebuilding After Disasters
This panel explored how disasters are affecting the costs of housing, insurance rates, and decisions by communities on whether to move away from at-risk areas. Sarah Atkinson (SPUR), Judson Boomhower (UC San Diego), Molly Mowery (Community Wildfire Planning Center), and Michael Peterson (California Department of Insurance) came together to discuss how recent disasters have prompted us to rethink how and where we build, and challenged policymakers to develop strategies to protect assets, minimize costs, reduce community displacement, and prevent future catastrophic losses.
Panel #3
Climate Change and Human Mobility Across Borders
In the face of the increasing frequency and intensity of climate-accelerated extreme climate and weather events, communities are grappling with the decision to either stay in place and face heightened risk, or to relocate to safer areas. In this discussion, Hélène Benveniste (Stanford University), Joshua Busby (UT Austin), and Barbara Walter (UC San Diego) discussed how the movement of people across borders is inextricably linked to complex legal, social, and policy questions.
Panel #4
Climate Change, Human Mobility, and Community Resilience in California
The final panel in the series explored how communities and local and regional governments in California are addressing the growing challenge of climate-induced human mobility. Primitiva Hernandez (805Undocufund), Michael Méndez (UC Irvine), Ali Mostafavi (Texas A&M), and Sheri Weiser (UC San Francisco) shared best practices for building resilience across sectors, including expanding healthcare access for climate migrants, leveraging data systems to anticipate migration patterns and coordinate resources, and developing adaptive infrastructure that balances immediate needs with long-term sustainability.