IIPM EDITORIAL: Climate refugees’ on the rise

Some bad news in store – as the scourge of global warm

ing continues to raise its ugly head. Leading aid agency Christian Aid, in a report titled, ‘Human tide: The real migration crisis’, says that by 2050, there will be least one billion refugees as people will be forced to leave their homes, beset by water shortages and crop failures. “We estimate that, unless strong preventative action is taken, between now and 2050, climate change will push the number of displaced people globally to at least one billion,” the report stated. Forced migration is now the most urgent threat facing poor people in the developing world as greenhouse gas emissions (mainly from burning fossil fuels) will be causing floods and famines and putting people’s lives at a grave risk. The report further said that the developed world had the dubious distinction of contributing the most to the damage of climate change and pollution. Many of these ‘climate refugees’ may be able to cross national borders; but a great many would not be able to leave their own countries – and would remain largely invisible and unnoticed. “These internally displaced persons, or IDPs, have no rights under international law and no official voice… Their living conditions are likely to be desperate and in many cases their lives will be in danger,” the report revealed. Average temperatures are going to rise by anything between 1.8 and 3 degree Celsius in this century itself.