Marisa O. Ensor Libri

The book explores the profound impact of Hurricane Mitch on Honduras, highlighting how the disaster exacerbated existing vulnerabilities in economic, social, and environmental conditions. A team of seven socio-environmental scientists conducted extensive research to uncover the root causes of these vulnerabilities, the disaster's effects on local society, and the recovery efforts that followed. By integrating ethnographic fieldwork and environmental assessments, it emphasizes the need to understand natural disasters within their broader political and socio-economic contexts.

The book offers an in-depth exploration of child migration, focusing on various migratory experiences such as economic migration, transnational education, and trafficking. It highlights the unique challenges faced by different groups, including stateless, fostered, unaccompanied, and undocumented children. Through comprehensive analysis, it sheds light on the complexities of their situations and the broader implications of child migration in contemporary society.

This book responds to the reality that children and youth constitute a disproportionately large percentage of displaced populations worldwide. It demonstrates how their hopes and aspirations reflect the transient nature of their age group, and often differ from those of their elders. It also examines how they face additional difficulties due to the inconsistent definition and uneven implementation of the traditional ‘durable solutions’ to forced migration implemented by national governments and international assistance agencies. The authors use empirical research findings and robust policy analyses of cases of child displacement across the globe to make their central argument: that the particular challenges and opportunities that displaced children and youth face must be investigated and factored into relevant policy and practice, promoting more sustainable and durable solutions in the process. This interdisciplinary edited collection will appeal to students and scholars of forced migration studies, development, conflict and peace-building and youth studies, along with policy-makers, children's rights organizations and NGOs.