When people think of migrants, the most immediate image is often of a person fleeing war, misery, and inhumane socio-economic conditions.
However, there is another factor that drives people to leave their homes and countries: climate change.
Climate-driven migrations are certainly nothing new. The human history is marked by numerous waves of climate-driven migration; primarily the one that led our ancestors to leave Africa, and to head for the European continent and the rest of the world.
Today, the climate situation is far from normal, and as a result, climate-driven migrations are also anomalies in history.
In fact, it is estimated that between 2008 and 2014 some 184 million people were forced to leave their cities, or even their countries, due to climate change.
However, the data we have are very uncertain. The number could be even higher, and this is because it is not easy to determine the real causes that lead people to migrate.
In fact, excluding conflict, which is a more immediate cause to identify, and which qualifies migrants for refugee status, the other reasons are multiple and often interlinked.
For example, in the late 2020s, there was a record number of migrants trying to move from Latin and Central America to the United States. In addition to attempting to escape the criminality and inequality that have always characterized this geographic area, there was an exorbitant number of people escaping hunger. Until recently, these migrants had been able to survive on what their land could offer them, but in recent times their crops have been systematically destroyed by floods or, during summers, they have not even been able to sow, due to soil desertification and rampant droughts.
These, then, are climate migrants: people fleeing their land because it can no longer feed them, fleeing their homes because they have been wiped out by some natural disaster, or fleeing their hometown because it has become uninhabitable due to rising temperatures.
The predictions for the near future are truly alarming: we must expect more and more climate migrants. It is estimated that by 2050 al least 17 million people will flee from Latin America, 86 million from Sub-Saharan Africa, which is the geographic area most affected by climate change and the least prepared to cope with the consequences, and about 40 million from Asia, particularly Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, China, and Afghanistan.
However, there is a problem in recognizing these people as climate migrants. First, because they are often unaware that the cause of their displacement is climate change and, more importantly, because there are no international conventions for their protection.
But there is a glimmer of hope: it is undeniable that international climate awareness has increased considerably in recent years, as has the awareness of the unfairness of the losses and damages suffered by countries due to climate change. Consequently, it is to be hoped that the issue of climate migrants will be increasingly considered, perhaps within loss and damage debate, since the damage caused by the ill-considered policies of developed countries often impact on the developing geographic areas from which most climate migrants flee.
It is time, therefore, to take responsibility for the countries most affected by our actions, not only through economic support, as it is established by loss and damage mechanism, approved at COP27, but also by recognizing the existence of these migrants and their right to live in a safe environment.
Translated by Denise Praticò.
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Sources consulted for this article:
https://www.duegradi.eu/news/migranti-climatici/
https://www.lifegate.it/the-climate-limbo-documentario-migranti-climatici
https://www.actionaid.it/informati/notizie/cambiamenti-climatici-aumentano-migrazioni
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEZoCg2hWds
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L'Autore
Alessia Marchesini
Classe '99, si laurea in Scienze Internazionali e Diplomatiche presso l'Università di Bologna. Attualmente frequenta un Master in Politiche, Progettazione e Fondi Europei presso l'Università di Padova. I suoi interessi più grandi sono la storia e la geopolitica, ma anche la natura e la tutela dell'ambiente. Da convinta europeista, ha deciso di cimentarsi nello studio e nell'approfondimento degli strumenti che l'Unione Europea mette a disposizione di stati e cittadini per rispondere alle esigenze del nuovo secolo, in particolare quelle focalizzate su lavoro, transizione energetica ed ecologica.
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Climate migrants Migrations