MigrationCountries brace for forced migration due to climate change
Scientists say that one of the more disturbing aspects of climate change-related disruptions is looming climate-induced migration crisis. Extreme weather disasters, sea level rise, and environmental degradation are factors which could trigger a mass migration, disrupting populations and destabilizing governments. A recent study sponsored by the governments of Switzerland and Norway found that an estimated 144 million people were at least temporarily displaced between 2008 and 2012.
Scientists say that one of the more disturbing aspects of climate change-related disruptions is looming climate-induced migration crisis. The Huffington Post reports that extreme weather disasters, sea level rise, and environmental degradation are factors which could trigger a mass migration, disrupting populations and destabilizing governments.
“We now know,” said Mary Robinson, the UN Special Envoy for Climate Change and former president of Ireland, “that climate change is a driver of migrations, and is expected to increase the displacement of populations.”
There are no exact predictions, but some forecasts place the number of “environmental migrants,” or those displaced by climate change, at between 25 million to 1 billion by 2050. These estimates are often so wide-ranging because of the unforeseen links between climate change and migration — links which are not always direct. For instance, climate change may exacerbate a natural disaster that would have occurred anyway, or may lead to a secondary impact such as a landslide or flooding.
According to the Nansen Initiative, this process may already be underway. The island nation of Fiji has finalized plans to relocate 646 coastal communities at risk. A recent study sponsored by the governments of Switzerland and Norway found that an estimated 144 million people were at least temporarily displaced between 2008 and 2012. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has also warned that a failure to deal with the issue of climate change will only result in disarray.
“These numbers are staggering. Because climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of weather-related disasters, the total number of climate change migrants will rise in the years ahead,” Anika Rahman writes in the Huff Post.
She also cites examples of this already occurring, including continued destruction of farmland by rising sea levels, harm to global fish populations, and a lack of drinking water due to draught in places like the Colorado River, which currently serves the freshwater needs of about thirty million people.
