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In Today’s News: Climate Adaptation Can Risk Displacement; Refugees on Frontline of COVID-19 Response; Is Global Warming Driving Dengue in Latin America?; NASA Sounds Alarm on Global Sea Level Rise

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Climate Adaptation Risks Displacing Vulnerable Communities, If Not Done Right

In a new report, the University of California, Berkeley’s Urban Displacement Project and the nonprofit EcoAdapt term displacement - whether temporary, permanent, forced or voluntary - as an issue rooted in inequity, now exacerbated by climate change. They warn that climate resilience measures must take into account the needs of disadvantaged populations. Thus building more green space or aligning residential and transit development, for example, may achieve long-term climate objectives but also drive up real estate, and in the process, displace low-to-middle income families through gentrification. Efforts are underway in Los Angeles and Atlanta, where historically marginalized communities have borne the brunt of Atlanta’s flooding and ensuing displacement, to address inequities and address displacement caused by climate-related challenges. Local residents have been consulted, which helps to better inform policy and future strategies (Scientific American) 

Refugees are on the Front Line of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Let's Give Them the Rights They Deserve

From the Iraqi cardiologist in Atlanta, the Syrian teacher cleaning hospital wards in London, the Venezuelan doctor saving lives in Lima’s ambulatory service teams, to all those making soap, personal protection equipment, cooking free meals for health workers and volunteering in so many fields, refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants are among the heroes answering the Covid-19 response call. And in so doing, all of a sudden, some people’s concerns over borders and legal statuses are supplanted by the skills, knowledge and experience these populations bring to their foreign homes, showcasing that when people are empowered to contribute, everyone gains. Usually, populations forced to flee are caught in a labor trap, where highly trained professionals’ accreditations go unrecognized in their new homes and credential conversions remain elusive due to bureaucratic hurdles, costs or access to education, which refugees are often denied. As International Workers’ Day approaches and the pandemic refocuses meaning on the “essential worker”, the strengths of refugee contributions should be welcomed into the whole labor market, and not just the health sector. With plans to “build back better”, the vital contributions of refugees should now be made obvious as are the mutual benefits to society they offer. (World Economic Forum) 

Is Global Warming Driving the Spread of Dengue Across Latin America?

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have been warning for years that rising temperatures are altering the distribution of species such as mosquitoes, allowing them to live in higher altitudes such as the Andes, and with it, serving as vectors for infectious diseases. In 2019, dengue infections reached new records in Latin America, with over 3 million confirmed cases, a sixfold increase from the previous year. Over 1,300 people died but experts believe the death toll to be far higher in worst-affected rural communities where health services are scarce. Now, as the novel coronavirus enters the region, many dengue epidemics are already underway in several countries with Bolivia and Honduras among the hardest hit. IPCC research has shown that it only takes an average temperature rise of between one and two degrees Celsius to allow conditions for mosquito-borne dengue to transmit. The average yearly temperature across Latin America have risen between one and 1.5 degrees Celsius since 1980. Dengue was first identified in Thailand and the Philippines in the 1950’s but by 1970, nine countries had experienced outbreaks, while the disease is now present in over 100 countries in almost every continent. (The New Humanitarian)

A New Way of Measuring Ice Melt in Antarctica, Greenland Sounds Alarm About Global Sea Level Rise

According to NASA satellite imagery, since 2003, global sea levels have risen 0.55 inches due to climate change-driven ice melt in Antarctica and Greenland. Record melting in 2019 from rising temperatures saw Greenland’s ice sheet contribute to a sea level rise of 1.5 millimeters, and at this pace, sea levels will rise 2 to 6 feet by 2100, mainly by Greenland and Antarctica, which scientists warn will have dire consequences for coastal residents. Sea level rise will not only destroy coastal property values but also displace people - more than 40% of the US population - and have massive impacts on global markets ($7.9 trillion in US GDP alone) unless measures are taken to curb greenhouse gas emissions all across the world. (CNBC)

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In Today's News: Record Global Displacements; Covid-19 Heightens GBV for Refugee Women; Climate Change Displacement in US; Employee Concerns for Climate Refugees Drives Google Carbon Reductions

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Record 50.8 Million Internally Displaced, 5 Million from Natural Disasters in 2019

In its annual report, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) categorized the displacements as 45 million due to conflict and 5 million due to weather-related disasters. The past year marked a high of 33.4 million new displacements, the highest figure since 2012, with weather-related disasters accounting for 24.9 million new displacements and Asian countries and the United States recording the highest numbers. The displaced are now further threatened by the challenges posed by the Coronavirus, but even so, IDMC says the record numbers are indicative of collective global failure and calls on governments to solve long entrenched conflicts such as those in the DRC, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan, which have displaced millions of people. They also suggest governments do more to tackle climate change and prepare for the real-life impacts they pose to displacement. Coronavirus cases are being tracked among displaced people in Iraq, where the first cases were confirmed, and in Syria, Burkina Faso and Colombia, all dealing with displacement crises and rising infection rates. (BBC)

COVID-19: Displaced Women and Girls at Heightened Risk of GBV

The UN Refugee Agency is warning of the extra risks the Coronavirus pandemic’s lockdowns and movement restrictions impose upon refugee, displaced and stateless women and girls who are significantly at higher risk to intimate partner or gender-based violence. They warn that some are trapped with their abusers, while others lack documentation or have suffered livelihood loss as a result of the pandemic and may be forced into survival sex or child marriages. Within families, many women are also taking on increased responsibilities and burdens as caregivers. Survivors of violence and those at risk are also impeded access to psycho-social support, health and security services, including safe shelters, which have been temporarily suspended or re-purposed due to pandemic response. In partnership with humanitarian actors, governments must ensure critical services for survivors are designated as essential and accessible to those forcibly displaced, as well as access to justice mechanisms for those survivors of gender-based violence. (Gulf News) 

US Displacement in the Face of Climate Change

In the United States, 1.2 million people were displaced by climate-related disasters in 2018. Where people live is increasingly being driven by climate change, and that, along with economic disparity, showcase how discriminatory systems adversely affect low-income communities of color and further propel gentrification. Now enter the Covid-19 crisis, which threatens to further stress those existing disparities with the largest number of US renter households since 1965, who lacking recovery assistance, are especially vulnerable to a potential displacement crisis. With an aim to understanding the links between climate change and displacement, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) conducted a literature review of 384 materials since the 1970’s, which revealed historical inequities in American states that persist to this day. One example is coastal states, where housing continues to be built more rapidly in flood prone rather than low risk areas. When flood displacements do occur, neighboring areas are also impacted due to the housing shortages which can’t keep pace with the displacement influx. Further, many low-income communities indicate barriers to climate change actions such as lack of money, resources and clarity on viable options. NRDC maintains that the environment, housing, health, racial equity and economic opportunity are linked but underscored that displacement and gentrification are not necessarily inevitable in making American cities climate ready. (NRDC) 

Employee Concerns for Climate Refugees Drives Google Carbon Reductions

Since 2018, Google has made efforts to match every unit of energy it consumes with a renewable source on a 24x7 basis. Even so, employees found these efforts insufficient in the face of Google’s decision to maintain contracts with fossil fuel companies. In an open letter to the company, employees called for a “four-zeros” objective: zero carbon emissions by 2030, zero contracts for fossil fuel companies that extract oil and gas, zero funding for climate denying organizations and zero harm to climate refugees. Now, presumably in response, Google is working on a “carbon intelligent computing platform” already deployed to its data centers to shift non-urgent workloads to times of day when wind and solar energy sources are plentiful and thus, can be utilized. The company hopes it can ultimately be declared “24x7 carbon-free energy” in all its data centers, which it is almost close to achieving in Hamina, Finland. (ZDNET)

Note: Title of article changed by Climate Refugees to highlight relevance to climate displacement

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In Today's News: Refugees Face Threat of Coronavirus; Conflict, Climate, Contagion; As Himalayas Warm, Nepal's Climate Migrants Suffer; East Africa's Locusts are Back, Stronger Than Ever

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Refugees Worldwide Now Face Threat of Coronavirus

About 10 million of the world’s 70 million refugees live in crowded camps and informal settlements. Almost no refugees living in these camps have been tested for the virus, and testing, in short supply in New York, is non-existent in the global south, where ventilators, gloves and masks are scant. A review by Norwegian Refugee Council of 30 countries found virtually no testing before people became sick - many in cramped and abysmal quarters making social distancing and frequent hand-washing near impossible. Refugees have tested positive in Italy, Germany, Iran, Australia and Greece, where 150 people living in a quarantined hotel for asylum-seekers had contracted the virus. In Syria’s war-ravaged Idlib province, where 200 tests have been carried out but no cases yet exist, only one small health facility is ready to treat, but elsewhere, where cases have appeared, 350 health facilities have been bombed, over 900 medical staff have been killed and countless more have fled. In Cox’s Bazaar, the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh, aid workers are racing to build isolation facilities, while in Kenya’s two largest refugee camps, Kakuma and Dadaab, where refugees have lived for decades in exile, there are no tests, no intensive care units and no ventilators, and fears are that the worst is yet to come. (LA Times)

Conflict, Climate and Contagion: Refugees Suffer

As countries shut their borders and refugee resettlement operations grind to a halt, refugees in camps and urban settlements grow ever more vulnerable to the Coronavirus, where social distancing seems largely a privilege. Cox’s Bazaar - the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh - has twice the density of New York City, the current pandemic epicenter. Overcrowded settlements exemplify conflict, climate and contagion’s interconnectedness - all leading reasons for flight. The response to Covid-19 has highlighted the challenges of response in the face of limited resources - prompting questions of whether to treat the elderly over the young or the current workforce? These same ethical questions easily translate to groups defined by immigration status and borders as well, and while the virus has everything to do with mobility, it is migration that has been demonized. And all the while, it is migrants all over the world who have made significant contributions as frontline and essential workers in the medical fields, food and health services that keep the pandemic response moving along. (Newsroom) 

As Himalayas Warm, Nepal’s Climate Migrants Struggle to Survive

High in the Himalayas in a village called Dhye, an exodus of migrants has begun, forced by  dwindling crops, the closed school, and essentially, life made impossible by climate change. Millions of South Asians are at risk as glacial melt has accelerated and with it, made land barren and remapped the Himalayan region, forcing mountain dwellers to build life anew at lower altitudes. One of the most comprehensive studies on mountain warming last year revealed that even if the most ambitious climate change targets were met, at least one-third of the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2100, and warnings are that rising temperatures could spread malaria and dengue to new areas of the region, where mosquitoes have already started to appear in the highlands. Nepal is considered ground zero for the impacts of climate change and while the number of impacted migrants are unknown, local officials estimate it to be in the thousands with officials planning to track the impacts of rising temperatures for the first time in an upcoming census. The climate change migrants who have already left face numerous challenges in resettlement, where new residents have no legal right to land. (NY Times) 

Two New Generations of Locusts are Set to Descend on East Africa Again - 400 Times Stronger

Already farmers and herders across Kenya are reporting the large swathes in an infestation which first arrived last June and wreaked havoc across eight countries. Scientists say they never left and will only increase this year due to higher than average rainfall. East Africa, already a food insecure region for 20 million people, now faces additional challenges made worse by conflict, climate shocks and the expected rise in Covid-19 cases, and experts fear that up to 100% of farmers’ budding crops could be destroyed. Efforts to mitigate losses are underway but Covid-19 poses new challenges with country lockdowns and supply chain disruptions in pesticide shipments. Already, Somalia is three weeks behind in locust control pesticides due to Covid-19. If control activities fail, up to an additional 5 million could be food insecure in East Africa by June. (Quartz Africa) 

In Today's News: Covid-19 Test for Climate Migration; Teen Vogue Speaks to Us About Climate Displacement on Earth Day; Climate Displacement and Gender-Based Violence: Once Woman’s Crusade in Somalia

COVID–19 Is a Test for Climate Migration and the World Is Failing 

Climate change, while gradual, will eventually reach the point of no return, leading to vast displacement, and governments forced to manage on the fly, will flounder, evidenced by the current Covid-19 response. Governments have faced innumerable challenges in restricting movements to curtail the spread of the virus, some even allegedly denying migrants access to food while passing through. What all this shows us is the capacity of countries to weather unexpected crises, and the looming threat of climate displacement is one more they seem woefully unprepared to address. Chief among concerns are the legal ones, and the crucial need for global leaders to create a binding legal framework that addresses the legal void climate displaced people may face. As Covid-19 has demonstrated, economic, housing and logistical realities of large population movements can prove equally overwhelming and this crisis has made clear that the time has come for regional and international cooperation to address climate displacement. (The Diplomat) 

On the Run From Disaster: “Climate Refugees” Face a Devastating Mental Health Toll 

It’s Earth Day 2020 and we at Climate Refugees, through our founder Amali Tower, are honored to have participated in this great piece from Teen Vogue that highlights the complexities of climate displacement, where we help articulate the legal challenges, policy gaps and humanitarian realities that many face today and threaten so many more in the future. All month, Teen Vogue will be featuring a series on how climate change impacts mental health. Here’s a sampling of our contribution and what you can expect from the piece: 

““Migrant” implies choice, Tower says, which does not apply to many young people who are on the move as a result of the unliveable climate change-related conditions or at the will of their caretakers.

Further complicating the terms of definition are the nexus dynamics of weather disasters and humanitarian crises. There is a relationship between climate and resource changes, and political, cultural and economic instability

“It's so important that we understand what distinctions are important and labels are important and terminologies are important, but not to the detriment of our ability to protect people,” Tower says. In her experience working with young displaced people around the world, all reasons for their journey present “the same heartbreak.”

Hers and other organizations, as well as countries and local governments, are pushing for climate change-related displacement to be recognized under human rights law, but the processes necessary to make significant changes to international and domestic policy move slowly, and are convoluted by politics.” (Teen Vogue)

‘Most Of The Men Are Your Enemies': One Woman's Crusade in Somalia

Ibado Mohammed Abdulle is a counsellor, friend and campaigner for women who have been made refugees in their own country by the impact of the climate crisis. Climate change is driving displacement since 2016 when drought drove thousands of families to displacement camps, and with it, drove up the rates of rape, sexual violence and intimate partner violence when women became the family breadwinners and when they migrated to camps near crowded urban centers. Abdulle tries hard to document the crisis in an attempt to recruit help, and while updated statistics are lacking, the World Bank records at least 25 percent of Somali women have experienced gender-based violence exacerbated by conflict and displacement due to the climate emergency. (The Guardian) 

Analysis

The Guardian refers to Abdulle and Somalia’s many displaced by the climate emergency as ‘climate refugees.’ Although we too use this term to highlight the protection needs constant between internally displaced, refugee and cross-border climate displaced populations, to be accurate, Somalis internally displaced within Somalia’s territorial borders for reasons of drought or conflict are internally displaced persons and ultimate responsibility for protection lies with the Somali Government.

In Today's News: US Immigration Policies Compound Coronavirus Pandemic; The Lessons of Coronavirus for Climate Change; The Syrian Refugee Woman Who Developed Virus-Resistant Seeds

Cruel Immigration Policies Make the Pandemic Worse

As the Coronavirus pandemic spreads globally, US immigration agencies continue their raids, detentions and deportations with good indication from the WHO that US deportations to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala imported 1, 18 and 26 cases of the virus, respectively, as of March 23. With its unsanitary and extreme close quarters, detention centers exacerbate the high contagion rate of the virus. Prior to Covid-19, 700 detainees were reported to have mumps and at least three children have died from the flu. The author notes that so many refugees have been forced to flee due to misguided US trade policies, wars and proxy wars, coups, political interventions and now, unchecked greenhouse gas emissions and continued failed climate policies, which threaten to displace millions more who could face similar cruelty in that crisis. (Common Dreams) 

Can the Lessons of the Coronavirus Pandemic Be Applied to Climate Change?

The global economic shutdown has made apparent what is possible if humans commit to reducing its carbon footprint. Since January, China’s emissions have declined 25 percent and satellite imagery has captured huge declines in pollution in Beijing, Los Angeles and New York. Marshal Burke at Stanford University calculated that China’s shutdown has likely saved 4,000 lives of children under 5 and 73,000 lives of adults over 70, 20 times the deaths of Chinese coronavirus cases. In the long run though, as countries re-emerge from the economic loss, the inspired long-term actions needed to avert a climate crisis we sense is coming is unlikely as governments prioritize short-term economic growth over long-term sustainability, all the while loosening environmental regulations, which we already see playing out in some countries like the US and China, and public pressure to combat climate change is subsumed by the economic effects of the coronavirus. (World Politics Review) 

Planting Hope: The Syrian Refugee Who Developed Virus-Resistant Super-Seeds

Kumari, a plant virologist, has been working the past 10 years on solutions to a fueled virus spreading from Syria to Ethiopia affecting livelihood crops known as “poor man’s meat”, vital for both income generation and food security. She says climate change has provided aphids with the right temperature to breed exponentially and spread epidemics. When she finally found a bean varietal resistant to one of the viruses, she safeguarded the seeds with her sister in Aleppo, never believing the Syrian war would expand across the country. Determined to equally safeguard her work, she traveled via Damascus to Aleppo, dodging bombings and dangerous roads over two days, eventually bringing the seeds back to safety with her in Lebanon. But that was only the first hurdle, as the region faced mounting crop production losses and producers began to rely heavily on insecticides with no safety measures. Her work eventually succeeded, providing a cheap and environmentally friendly option with good yields. Turning down offers from virus detection tech companies who wanted to sell the seeds to farmers, Kumari now plans to distribute her seeds free to farmers, saying “it’s our responsibility to provide our solutions to people everywhere.” (The Guardian)

In Today's News: Is Climate Finance 'Displacing' Aid?; What One Expert Overlooks in the Broad Details on Climate Migration (We Weigh In); By Not Recognizing 'Climate Refugees' Germany Signifies Need

Why Climate Funds May Be ‘Displacing’ Lifesaving Aid

Ten years ago at COP15, countries pledged $100 billion a year by 2020 to help countries least responsible for climate change fight its impacts. Receiving countries assumed the climate money would be in addition to development aid but a 2018 Oxfam study found most donors were counting their climate finance as part of their overseas development aid commitments, in the process underfunding humanitarian and development budgets needed to respond to disasters, fight poverty and vitally needed education, health and lifesaving programs. 

Yet, even with this redirection, funding for climate adaptation and mitigation has fallen below the $100 billion target according to the OECD, and Oxfam found that only 18 percent of the promised climate funds are reaching the countries that need it most. 

Funding continues to be one of the most contentious issues at each of the COP negotiations, where this past year, vulnerable countries’ requests to secure “loss and damage” financing for disasters went unmet. Most climate funds are focused on mitigation but countries most-at-risk need funding to adapt to the disaster risks fueled by climate change. (The New Humanitarian)

Analysis

The danger here is two-fold: not only are countries least responsible for climate change being left in the lurch in terms of the necessary aid to respond to the climate crisis, but in addition, they are as a result, being forced to resort to borrowing the money to rebuild after disasters, heightening their risks, poverty and further entrenching them in a cycle of ever deepening and widening poverty. 

How Should the World Respond to the Coming Wave of Climate Migrants?

Analysis

This is a policy editorial that mostly summarizes the state of play with respect to the plight of climate migrants and the current policy discourse based on the worst case climate migration models. The opinion piece does address the legal challenge that climate change falls outside the purview of protected refugee grounds under the 1951 Convention, but fails to include broader refugee definitions in the 1969 OAU Convention and the 1984 Cartagena Declaration. 

It also fails to include the recently adopted, albeit non-binding, UN Global Compacts for Migration and Refugees, respectively, which discuss environmental migration and further, UNHCR’s more recent position that refugee law frameworks may apply in situations where nexus dynamics are present - that is, situations where conflict or violence are interconnected to situations linked to climate change or disaster. 

Most notably, the author’s belief is that climate migration is voluntary, and while there is certainly a lack of data and full understanding yet on the topic, there are viable and numerous qualitative indicators to suggest that where climate migration interconnects with poverty, development and challenges to security, choice may not be a luxury afforded to many, and certainly not to everyone. (World Politics Review)

Germany Says it Will Not Grant Asylum to 'Climate Refugees'

Although a 2019 European Parliament briefing paper noted 26.4 million had been climate displaced since 2008 with ‘climate refugees’ expected to rise and developing countries had requested the EU 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)

Analysis

Of course it’s well established, understood even, that the 1951 Refugee Convention adopted by Germany and many other EU states will not protect those who cross borders on account of climate change that it almost renders such an official decree unnecessary. However, recent developments by UNHCR to discuss where refugee law intersects at nexus dynamics, scenarios whereby certain conflicts could overlap with climate-induced situations, such as famine, and the pressure applied by other states and civil society, could signify the magnitude of the need, concern for protection gaps and growing security needs inherent within climate displacement.