What do monsoons have to do with border walls?
Take a recent catastrophe: in June, Pakistan’s monsoon rains triggered devastating flooding that caused one of the worst natural disasters in recent history. More than a thousand people died and millions were displaced, many of them losing their homes and land. The cause? Climate change via warmer temperatures and Pakistan’s melting glaciers.
How could a border barrier be to blame for any of that? Fences separate Pakistan from India and Afghanistan, but it is political conflict, smuggling, migration and terrorism – not climate change – that has motivated their construction. However, from a broader perspective, border walls and climate change have much in common. Mobility and immobility, but also inequality, relate to both.
