The Climate Refugees

Climate change is reshaping our world. Coastlines are creeping inland, deserts are growing, ranges of plant and animal species are shifting.  The climatic changes that are making parts of the world unlivable are another example of people in poorer parts of the world paying the price of Western lifestyles. And people are on the move too. Estimates for how many people will relocate because of climate change vary between 25 million to 1 billion by mid century, according to the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM). The UN warns that by 2045, 135 million people may be displaced by desertification alone.

As the planet heats up, homes are becoming uninhabitable and people are on the move. The countries most responsible for climate change are fortifying their borders to keep them out. 

The IMO suggested that governments respond with policies such as "ensuring migration pathways via free movement protocols" and "expediting or waiving visas."

But in his book 'Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration, and Homeland Security,' Todd Miller argues that some countries are instead putting up barriers to keep them out. Miller says the militarization of borders is a global trend: When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, there were just 15 border walls across the globe. Today there are 77.

Some people are driven to leave their homes directly because of drought or flood. But the role of climate change in migration is often far more complex. In January, the UN Security Council held a debate framing global warming as a "threat multiplier." Crop failures, natural disasters and depleted resources — be they fertile soils or water — can tip delicate economic and political balances into crisis, fueling poverty and conflict.

In the US though, the link between global warming and border security has been explicit. In 2010, Washington officially listed climate change as a threat to national security. That, Miller explains, required the Department of Homeland Security — which deals with border and immigration enforcement — to formulate a response. Last year, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras reported combined losses of 281,000 hectares (694,000 acres) of staple crops due to drought. It was in these three countries that migrant caravans formed and headed north, making for striking media reports and fueling US anxieties over immigration. 

In Europe politicians increasingly framing climate change and migration, which often gets linked to terrorism, as a security threats rather than humanitarian crises. And if you frame something as a security threat, step two is looking for military means to combat that. Since 2014, the EU has replaced Mediterranean search-and-rescue missions with operations whose primary focus is security and border enforcement. There is much more violence towards refugees and migrants and it is much more acceptable.

Ramona Lenz, a cultural anthropologist with aid organization Medico International, explained, solutions demand the very opposite of nationalism: inclusive thinking that understands the interconnected flows of resources, waste, emissions, money and people across the globe.

"If we go on like this, migration will increase, more people will have to leave their homes and look for other places to stay," she says. "We know that and we don't want to be confronted with this complexity — the complexity of a globalized world — so we look for simple solutions. But they won't work out for long."

https://www.dw.com/en/building-walls-to-keep-climate-refugees-out/a-48273469