Climate Refugees

Unless countries take meaningful action on climate, more than 143 million people across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America could be displaced from their homes by 2050, according to the World Bank. The poorest and most environmentally vulnerable will be hardest hit as sea levels rise, storms intensify and droughts and unpredictable weather patterns rob farmers of their livelihoods. They will become refugees in their own countries, further driving international migration across the world. “Climate-displaced persons,” as they are known, currently have no protections under domestic or international law.

“Sadly, governments are being very reluctant to acknowledge the power of climate change as a factor that is leading more and more people to make the sad decision to go from their own countries to somewhere else,” said Oscar Chacón, executive director of Alianza Americas, a network of Latin American and Caribbean immigrant organizations in the U.S. “I’m not saying climate change is the leading reason why people are leaving, but clearly climate change is one rapidly changing factor,” Chacón said. “I would dare to say if we think about the next 10 or 15 years, it will become a significant factor in why people decide that there is no other choice for them than to go seek a better life in a foreign land.”

The United Nations recognizes that disasters and environmental degradation associated with climate disruption increasingly react with other factors to drive migration across the world, including in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, where droughts and unpredictable rainfall are pushing low-income families away from agricultural areas and into cities. Climate disruption’s contributions to extreme weather and food insecurity are now recognized as one factor behind the surge of migrants to the United States.

The UN’s weather service is concerned about sources of freshwater in the world’s mountains, and the ecosystems and human populations they sustain. Rising global temperatures are causing “unprecedented changes” in high mountain regions as the cryosphere shrinks and patterns of rainfall shift. Not only does this make sources of drinking water less predictable, it also increases the risks of hazards to property and human life, such as avalanches and glacial lake flooding. For example, in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, floods already account for one third of natural disasters and are increasing in frequency, putting one billion people living downstream at great risk.

Closer to home for many Americans are the forest fires in the western states. At least 200,000 people were forced from their homes from the Kincade Fire alone in northern California. Millions more are experiencing rolling electric blackouts and outages as energy utilities try to contain the damage and prevent more fires from breaking out caused by their power-lines.

https://truthout.org/articles/from-california-to-el-salvador-climate-driven-displacement-is-on-the-rise/