Experts say extreme weather is a growing danger to already displaced people and could force more to flee their homes. As a consequence, governments must deal with the link between the climate crisis and the plight of migrants around the world.
Little work has been done to fight this problem, however, the subject received little mention at the Cop27 UN climate summit in Egypt late last year and experts are hoping for greater focus in 2023. Furthermore, on this occasion, governments agreed that the poor countries worst afflicted by climate breakdown should receive funds to protect themselves from the effects of extreme weather, to help prevent people from being forced to flee.
Today, migrants and displaced people are supposed to be more than 100 million around the world, mainly in developing countries, and are among the populations most at risk from extreme weather.
David Miliband, the chief executive of the International Rescue Committee, said: «There is no doubt that some of the drivers of refugee numbers are conflict and climate change. Climate change has a direct and indirect effect on migration, and forced migration. It generally leads to internal displacement, to migration flows within countries».
About 55 million people around the world are internally displaced within their own countries, more than the number who are fleeing across borders. Last year, the total number of forcibly displaced people around the world – including refugees fleeing across international borders – topped 100 million for the first time, according to the UN.
However, Miliband added that scare stories of climate breakdown creating a new refugee crisis were overblown. «But conflict and climate come together – climate change fuels conflict, and is a conflict multiplier».
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