Bracing For Green Refugees

Need one more reason not to let the planet heat up any further? How about an influx of green refugees? The year so far has proved to be one of the most seminal in galvanising the climate change debate. United Nations experts came out with a report reinforcing the body of evidence holding humans complicit in causing global warming. This has inspired an energetic enquiry in what people could do to mitigate the effects of their actions.
From the high Himalayas to the deep seas, the specific impacts of rising temperatures have been explored. In traditionally sceptical parts of the world, public opinion has shifted dramatically and put greater pressure on governments to act. The growing intensity of the deliberations has prompted some advocates to warn of the negative fallout.
In recent weeks, the discussions are increasingly focusing on the extent of the displacement of people and entire communities climate change would precipitate within and across national boundaries. The growth of different categories of refugees has already overwhelmed the international system. This preoccupation has sometimes kept attention away from the plight of internally displaced people. Climate change – along with earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, floods, droughts and famines – threatens to compound this challenge several fold.
Experts predict that about 50 million people worldwide would be displaced by 2010 because of rising sea levels, desertification, dried up aquifers, weather-induced flooding and other serious environmental changes. Up to a billion people could be forced to leave their homes over the next 50 years, other studies warn. The farther the projections go into the future, the more serious the crisis seems to become.
Rising sea levels are expected to leave the most dramatic and visible effects. Yet communities living in coastal areas in least developed countries and small island developing states remain the most vulnerable. Lack of empowerment, representation and knowledge, among other things, has severely limited their access to support systems.
Environmental refugees, like victims of political upheavals or violence, require international commitments ensuring access to financial grants, food, tools, shelter, schools and clinics. Yet such refugees are not yet recognised in international conventions.
The world needs to move urgently on multiple fronts beginning with a legal definition of environmental refugees. Apart from mobilising financial, technical and material resources, governments, organisations and individuals need to raise awareness among the potential refugees. At least those who don't want to leave home would have enough to act on.