Climate Migrations
Droughts, floods, wildfires, crop failures, and extreme weather events caused from global heating is projected to displace up to 1.2 billion people by 2050. Coastal communities are especially at risk because of rising sea levels.
Read a roundup of the headlines:
“Climate displacement is movement, in part due to climate-related disasters, both sudden and slow-onset disasters, that are either temporary or permanent, within countries or across borders,” explains Ama Francis, climate displacement project strategist at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). Through their work at this New York City–based organization that fights for the legal rights of refugees, Francis is focused on addressing the structural inequalities—social, economic, or political—that shape a person’s decision or ability to move elsewhere. Those with fewer financial resources or those who are caretakers for others, for example, can’t as easily pick up and start somewhere new.”
NRDC, Climate Migration and Equity
“People are already beginning to flee. In Southeast Asia, where increasingly unpredictable monsoon rainfall and drought have made farming more difficult, the World Bank points to more than eight million people who have moved toward the Middle East, Europe and North America. In the African Sahel, millions of rural people have been streaming toward the coasts and the cities amid drought and widespread crop failures. Should the flight away from hot climates reach the scale that current research suggests is likely, it will amount to a vast remapping of the world’s populations.”
NY Times, THE GREAT CLIMATE MIGRATION
“As the threat of climate change increases globally, it’s no surprise that living conditions are becoming more precarious around the world.
And climate change doesn’t just mean extreme weather – rising sea levels, damaged ecosystems and environmental changes are all adversely impacting people’s lives with the potential to cause massive upheaval on a global scale.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an annual average of 21.5 million people have been forcibly displaced by weather-related events – such as floods, storms, wildfires and extreme temperatures – since 2008. These numbers are expected to surge in coming decades with forecasts from international thinktank the IEP predicting that 1.2 billion peoplecould be displaced globally by 2050 due to climate change and natural disasters.”
Zurich, There could be 1.2 billion climate refugees by 2050. Here’s what you need to know
“A great upheaval is coming. Climate-driven movement of people is adding to a massive migration already under way to the world’s cities. The number of migrants has doubled globally over the past decade, and the issue of what to do about rapidly increasing populations of displaced people will only become greater and more urgent. To survive climate breakdown will require a planned and deliberate migration of a kind humanity has never before undertaken.
The world already sees twice as many days where temperatures exceed 50C than 30 years ago – this level of heat is deadly for humans, and also hugely problematic for buildings, roads and power stations. It makes an area unliveable. This explosive planetary drama demands a dynamic human response. We need to help people to move from danger and poverty to safety and comfort – to build a more resilient global society for everyone’s benefit.”
The Guardian, The century of climate migration: why we need to plan for the great upheaval
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