From Prediction to Projection; Climate Refugees and the Future of Displacement
Climate Refugees; they need little introduction. All around the world stories like those in Bangladesh, the Pacific Islands, and Central America are surfacing of people being displaced due to climate-related causes such as natural disaster, resource conflict, and weather-related unrest. Once scoffed-at, the idea of climate displacement is becoming very real for those living in regions vulnerable to rising temperatures.
But what exactly is climate-based displacement? The World Bank’s Groundswell Report helps us with the numbers, projecting nearly 140 million people displaced by 2050. The majority of this movement is projected to occur in Latin America, South Asia, and Africa, as people like Monoara in Bangladesh move away from flood-stricken villages and start new lives in climate-stable regions.
Here in the United States, we can choose to accept incoming climate refugees (primarily from Latin America) as a boon rather than a burden. The Network’s own Andrea Cramer (Executive Director, Neighbor to Neighbor) penned an Earth Day op-ed on “Being a Global Neighbor;” words to live by. Analysts are cautiously optimistic that the United States will rise to meet this new challenge, and numerous organizations are making recommendations to the Biden Administration on how they can welcome refugees into the U.S..
No matter how you shake the projections, our common future maintains a need for refugee and immigrant resettlement in places where they can feel safe and thrive. Our goal here at the Network is to achieve that end in the United States; let’s keep up the good work.
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