Climate Displacement & Migration
With natural disasters occurring more intensely each year, communities and their people around the globe will continue to be displaced from their homes. From devastating storms, waning sea borders, raging wildfires, and threatening floods, the environment is becoming damaged and uninhabitable.
This means that about 21.5 million people annually are displaced from their homes and migrating elsewhere due to weather-related events since 2008. With the current rate of climate change, an estimated 1.2 billion people could be displaced globally by 2050.
So what exactly does it mean to be displaced, and what does the term climate refugee refer to?
Climate Displacement & Refugee Definitions
Climate displacement: when people move out of their home environments within countries or across borders due to the temporary or permanent effects of climate related disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and wildfires.
Climate refugee: a person who has forcibly had to leave their home and relocate due to the effects of climate change on their home environment.
Climate Displacement Disparities
It’s important to note that different types of communities and populations are affected more adversely by climate disasters than others. The climate crisis disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous and People of Color, as well as Women. The United Nations reports that almost 80% of climate refugees are women.
The disparity extends beyond communities; wealthy countries affect the rate of climate change disproportionately through their higher carbon emitting activities, causing low-income countries to bear the impact of global warming differently, and thus becoming more inhabitable. A report from Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute states that people from the top 1% of highest incomes globally (about 63 million people) emit twice the amount of carbon emissions than those in the bottom 50% of incomes.
As always, environmental issues are an intersectional issue. Climate displacement can affect anyone, but more often than not, they affect those in disadvantaged populations and communities.
Learn more
The best way to take action is to learn more about the issue and support organizations who are actively working to find the solutions needed. Read about the work the organizations below are doing to address the climate displacement problem.
UNHCR - The UN Refugee Agency: https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/climate-change-and-disasters.html
IRAP - International Refugee Assistance Project: https://refugeerights.org/issue-areas/climate-displacement
Climate Refugees: https://www.climate-refugees.org
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