CLIMATE DISPLACEMENT IN THE NEWS
10 March 2020
The German Watch Climate Risk Index for 2020 ranks India as the fifth most vulnerable country to the effects of climate change, with the poorest the most impacted. The year 2019 recorded 1600 deaths and a million displacements across 13 states with an increase in heat waves and weather-related events as a result of climate change. Food insecurity and livelihood are leading causes of displacement and with it, men migrating in search of work, leaving women to bear the brunt of farming and family responsibilities and vulnerable to a host of harms such as: early marriage, sexual assault and violence and increased malnutrition. Water scarcity exacerbates discrimination within the pre-existing caste system as well, whereby Dalits are denied resource sharing and thus access to safe drinking water. All this makes clear, climate change heightens exclusion in India, much as it does in many other similar places, where marginalized groups are the first to be denied access to rights and resources due to disenfranchisement or social custom. (Feminism India)
7 March 2020
According to new research conducted by Plan International, 53 percent of girls and women aged 12 to 25 declared climate change as the number one issue facing society and also cited it as the top concern in their own futures. Further, Plan’s 2019 research showed that 80 percent of the 60 million people displaced each year by climate-related disasters are women and girls. Their worries are appropriate given the key impacts of climate change on girls and women are food security, displacement, gender-based violence and child marriage, noting the link between environmental degradation and gender-based violence in a two-year study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. (Women’s Agenda)
6 March 2020
In a new report, the NGO Trócaire also found corporate human rights violations impact women more disproportionately and further, weather-related disasters are likely to kill women and girls 14 times more than boys, increase girls chances of being trafficked 30 percent and put women at increased risk of violence during crises and displacement. The report also looks at indigenous, environmental and land rights defenders and warns of their growing risks of violence, evidenced by the fact that in 2019, almost half of the 137 attacks on human rights defenders were against indigenous women in rural communities. (NRC Online)
2 March 2020
Residents of Fairbourne, a village in Gwynedd, have been told by the UK government they will have to leave their homes by 2054 due to sea-level rise and coastal flooding linked to climate change. Up to 450 homes and several businesses will be impacted but have not been offered any compensation, although housing prices have plummeted since the announcement. (BBC)
1 March 2020
Looking at the regional threat climate change poses to the US Atlantic seaboard, this editorial highlights the need for US legislation to tackle the impacts of climate change in its cities. Increased hurricanes have and threaten to render millions potentially, as he terms, “climate refugees.” Of course, were this to happen, these residents would actually be internally displaced persons, but the key takeaway here is the author’s point that displaced persons, forced to flee inland to escape rising waters and natural disasters, will likely face challenges in American cities also grappling with other forms of extreme weather changes and limitations in infrastructure and development that could overwhelm host cities capacities to welcome newly displaced. (Frederick News Post)
29 Feb 2020
An incredibly timely piece that highlights the limitations of international refugee policy that has not kept pace with social and political upheavals like gang violence and climate change that have impacted protection needs and modern displacement trends to cause the worst protracted migration crisis since World War II. Not only are international doors closing everywhere to asylum-seekers, but the system itself is ill equipped, in many cases, to recognize the complex and multiple drivers of displacement that render refugees and migrants the same. (The Atlantic)
26 Feb 2020
Following the establishment of a fund last September for Fijian climate displaced persons, five communities have already been relocated while a further 42 have applied for government support to move. New Zealand is the first country to support the fund following a Fijian government request for support. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Arden hoped other countries would follow in kind, noting the importance of supporting those who are bearing the brunt of climate change, having contributed to it the least. (RNZ)
Feb 25, 2020
In a new report written by experts, former US diplomats and military leaders, the Center for Climate and Security described scenarios where climate change could provoke or exacerbate conflict, as it diminishes food and water supplies and displaces millions of people, stating that the Paris climate agreement emissions reductions were inadequate to “contain the threat.” The report describes two likely climate scenarios: temperatures rising 1 to 2 degrees Celsius by 2050 or rising 2 to 4 degrees Celsius by 2100. The latter scenario, the report concludes, will displace people from Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, as these places become uninhabitable due to heat and competition over limited water resources, while an influx of migrants to Europe and Russia would provoke political and security instability in the region. (Scientific American)
Feb 15, 2020
UNHCR said the ratification of the African Union convention for the protection of internally displaced persons (IDPs) underscored Ethiopia’s concern for the massive internal displacement issue it’s dealing with as a result of conflict or climate change. With an estimated 1.78 million, Ethiopia has one of the largest IDP populations in the word. (Xinhua)
Feb 14, 2020
Following floods in Tanzania that killed 40 people, displaced 15,000 and damaged property, infrastructure, schools and farms in four regions, the Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community called on the global community for increased regional and global efforts to increase disaster risk management, early warning services, increase resilience and environmental management to reduce the impacts of extreme weather events. (The Citizen)
Feb 13, 2020
Although a 2019 European Parliament briefing paper noted 26.4 million had been climate displaced since 2008 with ‘climate refugees’ expected to rise and that developing countries had requested the bloc grant climate migrants refugee status, Germany stated it would not recognize the “flight from climatic conditions and changes' as a reason for asylum” and that "people in third countries who leave their homes solely because of the negative consequences of climate change are not refugees in the sense of the Geneva Refugee Convention under current international treaty law." (EuroNews)
From our perspective as analysts, the simple fact that Germany and the EU bloc are discussing this as an issue of policy that requires an official position, signifies the potential magnitude of the need, concern for protection gaps and security and potential pressure applied by other states and civil society.
Climate change effects are compounding a crisis born out of conflict that has already impacted 10.7 million people across the Lake Chad region and displaced 2.3 million. The lake, which has diminished 90% since the 1960’s as a result of overuse and climate change, has led to conflict between herders and farmers with livelihood loss and migration of families in search of water. Affected countries are now mounting a three-fold response: a military offensive against Boko Haram, conflict mediation between herders and farmers over water and land and try restore the diminishing Lake Chad, which has adversely impacted poverty, conflict and displacement in the region.
For more on the Lake Chad, see our report:
Miami, Florida’s most populous metropolitan area, has long been considered particularly vulnerable to climate change, but this is often limited to considerations of sea-level rise given its position as a low-lying coastal city. Miami’s sea-levels are expected to be 10 to 17 inches (25-43 cm) above 2000 levels, though recent studies have shown the seas are rising faster than expected. While this is undoubtedly a major issue, Miami also faces extreme heat and tropical storms, including hurricanes. Just this year, Miami’s heat index struck new records when temperatures topped 100°F (37.8°C) for 37 consecutive days and 106°F (41.1°C) for 13 days. And while the city has always faced challenges of heat and storms to some extent, climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of these phenomena, with devastating results.
