The effects of climate change will be catastrophic for the world with the World Bank estimating that 216 million people within their own countries will be displaced. According to The Internal Displacement Monitoring Center a record of 40.5 million people were displaced in 2020. In the same year 30.7 million of those displaced were caused by weather related events (IDMC, 2022). Many counties that are already affected by climate change are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, Haiti and Senegal. Climate migration is not something new as early as the mid-1990’s according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 25 million people have been forced from their homes by a range of serious environmental events (Piguet et al., 2011). The question is what is the world doing about climate migration? Are countries that are vulnerable from climate change having a say in policy and law? What organizations like the UN and Red Cross are doing to help? With so many questions and little action being done it is important to be aware that the countries that are vulnerable need to have a say if climate migration policy and collaboration were to work.
About 40% of the world's population is highly vulnerable to climate change according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report (IPCC) headed by Professor Sir Anfy Haines. In the report it outlines that climate change will have wide reaching impacts causing damages to ecosystems on land and freshwater in oceans (IPCC, 2008). Climate change is also impacting the health, food and poverty of many people around the world. As of 2016 77% of the world's population live in developing countries (IPCC, 2008). In countries like Bangladesh, Africa and the Middle East is where climate change is present. A lot of these countries do not share the same riches as the United States, China, Russia and parts of Europe (IPCC, 2008). Many of these places in the world contribute to a major climate killer that is fossil fuels which is causing a lot of damage every year for the earth. China is responsible for 71% of the world’s fossil fuels (Rapier, 2020). The United States ranks 24th when it comes to environmental performance (Rapier, 2020). Russia accounts for 14% of the globe's fossil fuel exports (Rapier, 2020).
Not many developing countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, Haiti and Senegal are not big poulters it is wealthy countries that are. The reason for this is because many of these nations were colonized or had their resources taken away for them in order to benefit another nations economy (Werlin, 2003). Many of these rich countries because of the impact of colonization used their new found wealth as a way to exhort influence on the international stage (Werlin, 2003). Which is a cause for alarm when it comes to solving climate change.
The argument that I am making here is that climate migration policy on an international and domestic level needs to have the voices of people who are affected. For climate migration policy to work we need to remember which countries are the biggest drivers of climate change. It is also good to know how many of these developing countries were victims of colonization, war and the vulnerability of people in order to get access to resources. Before you start to take action on climate migration policy, remember who is most affected and what people and countries need to be there.
References
Internal Displacement Monitoring Center. (2022). IDMC. Retrieved June 11, 2022, from https://www.internal-displacement.org/
IPPC. (2008). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC Secretariat. inf2-7.pdf (ipcc.ch)
Piguet, E. Pecoud, A., & Guchteneire, P. (2011). Migration and Climate Change an Overview. Oxford University Press. 1-23. MIGRATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE: AN OVERVIEW (jstor.org)
Rapier, R. (2020). Fossil Fuels Still Supply 84% of the World’s Energy and Other Eye Openers From BP’s Annual Review. Forbes Online. Fossil Fuels Still Supply 84 Percent Of World Energy — And Other Eye Openers From BP’s Annual Review (forbes.com)
Werlin, H. H. (2003). Poor Nations, Rich Nations: A Theory of Governance. Public Administration Review, 63(3), 329–342. http://www.jstor.org/stable/977491