Between disaster and displacement: the production of vulnerabilities in the Global South in the Age of the Great Acceleration

Abstract

This article examines how the contemporary environmental crisis, intensified by the Great Acceleration, produces and reproduces vulnerabilities in the Global South, thereby driving environmental migration. Drawing on a critical perspective of the concepts of the Anthropocene and the Capitalocene, it presents an analysis of global disaster data (EM-DAT) alongside a case study of the 2024 floods in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The discussion suggests that environmental migration is part of a systemic process of historical exploitation of territories and marginalized populations, in line with the logic of so-called “cheap natures,” which deepens inequalities and limits adaptive capacities. The paper concludes by raising questions about adaptation and emphasizing the need for public policies that recognize it as a legitimate survival strategy, particularly in a context of rapid and ongoing socio-environmental transformations.