Climate Victims – Every Second, One Person Is Displaced by Disaster

Inter Press Service - Baher Kamal

Land degradation - Sustainable land management: do nothing and you will be poorer. Credit: UNEP

Climate change and related extreme weather events have devastated the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions of most vulnerable people worldwide– by far exceeding the total of all the unfortunate and unjustifiable victims of all terrorist attacks combined. However, the unstoppable climate crisis receives just a tiny fraction of mainstream media attention. See these dramatic facts.
"Every second, one person is displaced by disaster," the Oslo-based Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) reports. "In 2015 only, more than 19.2 million people fled disasters in 113 countries. "Disasters displace three to ten times more people than conflict and war worldwide."
As climate change continues, it will likely lead to more frequent and severe natural hazards; the impact will be heavy, warns this independent humanitarian organisation providing aid and assistance to people forced to flee.
"On average, 26 million people are displaced by disasters such as floods and storms every year. That's one person forced to flee every second."
"Climate change is our generation's greatest challenge," says Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, which counts with over 5,000 humanitarian workers across more than 25 countries.
The climate refugees and migrants add to the on-going humanitarian emergency. "Not since World War II have more people needed our help," warned the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland, who held the post of UN undersecretary general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief (2003-2006).
Egeland –who was one of the most active, outspoken participants in the World Humanitarian Summit (Istanbul May 23-24)– also stressed that the humanitarian sector is failing to protect civilians.
"I hope that world leaders can ask themselves if they can at least stop giving arms, giving money to those armed groups that are systematically violating the humanitarian law, and bombing hospitals and schools, abusing women and children," he said to IPS during the World Humanitarian Summit.
For its part, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) forecasts 200 million environmental migrants by 2050, moving either within their countries or across borders, on a permanent or temporary basis. Many of them would be coastal population.
On this, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warns that coastal populations are at particular risk as a global rise in temperature of between 1.1 and 3.1 degrees C would increase the mean sea level by 0.36 to 0.73 meters by 2100, adversely impacting low-lying areas with submergence, flooding, erosion, and saltwater intrusion.

An estimated 83,100 people remain displaced and in need of humanitarian assistance in Wau, South Sudan. Credit: OIM

In a recent interview with IPS Nairobi correspondent Manipadma Jena, the director general of the International Organisation for Migration, William Lacy Swing, said that coastal migration is starting already but it is very hard to be exact as there is no good data to be able to forecast accurately.
"We do not know. But it is clearly going to figure heavily in the future. And it's going to happen both in the low-lying islands in the Pacific and the Caribbean, and in those countries where people build houses very close to the shore and have floods every year as in Bangladesh."
"It is quite clear that we will have more and more conflicts over shortages of food and water that are going to be exacerbated by climate change," Lacy Swing warned.
Political crises and natural disasters are the other major drivers of migration today, he said to IPS in the interview.
Lacy Swing confirmed the fact that climate victims now add to record 60 million people who are fleeing war and persecution.
"We have never had so many complex and protracted humanitarian emergencies now happening simultaneously from West Africa all the way to Asia, with very few spots in between which do not have some issue. We have today 40 million forcibly displaced people and 20 million refugees, the greatest number of uprooted people since the Second World War."
On 25 July, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution approving an agreement to make the International Organisation for Migration part of the UN system.
Founded in the wake of the World War II to resettle refugees from Europe, OIM celebrates its 65th anniversary in December of this year.

FAO and UNHCR prepared a handbook that will help mitigate the impact of displaced people on forest resources. The handbook aims to help displaced people access fuel for cooking food while reducing environmental damage and conflicts with local communities. Credit: FAO/UNHCR

"Migration is at the heart of the new global political landscape and its social and economic dynamics. At a time of growing levels of migration within and across borders, a closer legal and working relationship between the United Nations and IOM is needed more than ever," said the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a statement welcoming the Assembly's decision.
IOM, which assisted an estimated 20 million migrants in 2015, is an intergovernmental organisation with more than 9,500 staff and 450 offices worldwide
"We are living in a time of much tragedy and uncertainty. This agreement shows Member States' commitment to more humane and orderly migration that benefits all, where we celebrate the human beings behind the numbers," IOM Director General William Lacy said.
Through the agreement, the UN recognises IOM as an "indispensable actor in the field of human mobility." IOM added that this includes protection of migrants and displaced people in migration-affected communities, as well as in areas of refugee resettlement and voluntary returns, and incorporates migration in country development plans.
The agreement paves the way for the agreement to be signed by Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon and Swing at the UN Summit for refugees and migrants on 19 September, which will bring together UN member states to address large movements of refugees and migrants for more humane and coordinated approach.

Links

• Rights of Indigenous Peoples 'Critical' to Combat Climate Change
• Asia's Rising Prosperity, Climate Change Taking Toll on Food Security
• Q&A: Crisis and Climate Change Driving Unprecedented Migration
• Climate Change Compounds Humanitarian Crises in Global South

These Hyperrealistic Drawings of Glaciers Will Make You Wake Up and Act to Save the Planet

One Green Planet - Kate Good

Most of us have grown up knowing about climate change. It's a looming topic that has been discussed and debated since it was first brought to the Senate by Scientist Dr. James Hansen in the 1980s, and while some people are content to ignore the reality of this oncoming phenomenon, we are reaching a point where we simply can't anymore.
Between drastic temperature fluxes, extreme drought, water scarcity, storms larger and more destructive than any others witnessed before, and even species extinction, climate change is wreaking havoc on the planet. There is currently more carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere than there has been in the past 800,000 years, and the fact is these greenhouse gas emissions are coming from human industry and actions. While this might be saddening to know, it is also empowering because it means we all have the power to put and end to this. Unfortunately, since most of the population doesn't have to face the reality of climate change on a daily basis, it is easy to block out and ignore. This is a serious problem considering we need global action fast if we hope to save the planet (but really ourselves).
Luckily, there are awesome people like Zaria Forman who have made it their mission to wake people up from this apathy. Forman uses art to inspire people to take interest in the world's disappearing landscapes. Her primary focus is on glaciers.

Using only pastel and her fingers to smudge, Forman creates hyperrealistic glacier drawings.

On her Facebook page, Zaria describes her work as "large scale pastel drawings that document Earth's shifting landscape and the effects of progressive climate change."

Her inspiration to start drawing glaciers came from her childhood experience traveling to the world's most remote landscapes with her family.

We've all heard that the ice caps are melting, but it is a very different experience to see these structures up close.

With every detail, Forman sends the message that this is the beauty we stand to lose if we don't make a change … soon.

It is near impossible to look at these works of art and not be inspired to protect this gorgeous landscape. The good news is you can start taking action today! Cutting your personal carbon footprint is the surest way to minimize the amount of warming greenhouse gas emissions entering the atmosphere. While you can do many little things like shutting off lights when you leave your house, choosing to walk instead of drive, and switching over to energy efficient appliances – there is one simple action that often goes overlooked that has the highest positive impact: eating plant-based.
Animal agriculture is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transportation sector combined. In addition, this industry occupies 45 percent of arable land, uses 23 percent of global freshwater resources, and is responsible for rampant deforestation, water, and air pollution. By shifting away from meat and dairy products and choosing plant-based alternatives instead, you can help lower this rate of destruction. In just one year of eating plant-based, you can halve your carbon footprint – that's pretty powerful!
We all share this planet and it is up to us to do all we can to protect these gorgeous natural landscapes and ecosystems.

Links

• Climate Change May Create Infertile Hybrid Animals
• 5 Reasons to Combat Climate Change — For the Animals
• Climate Change is Making the World's Animals Really Sad
• How Protecting Sharks Can Help Slow Climate Change

Britain Shouts About Immigration But Is Silent On One Of The Root Causes: Climate Change

The Guardian - Andrew Simms

The Brexit campaign pivoted around migration but its politicians are sceptical of action on global warming that is a key driver of displacement

Nigel Farage launches UKIP's EU Referendum poster campaign in London, 16 June. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

Five months and counting
What happens as large-scale migration becomes inevitable due to a combination of environmental, economic and humanitarian reasons? Do we tackle the drivers and help the displaced, or worsen conditions causing the displacement and reject responsibility for those affected?
The campaign for Britain to leave the EU was related to those sceptical of action on global warming and in favour of financial deregulation. It's a paradoxical package, on the one hand creating the conditions for human displacement and migration through environmental damage and inequality, and on the other washing its hands of the inevitable consequences.
Global inequality is recognised as one push factor in human displacement. Climate change is another major factor, and it's set to worsen according to the UN refugee agency.
The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, whose figures exclude drought and "slow burn" environmental degradation, say the largest increase in push factors were weather, especially floods, and other climate-related impacts.
The Brexit campaign pivoted around the issue of migration. Key protagonists such as Ukip, who promoted and played on fears of migration, including the infamous poster, are also antagonistic toward renewable energy and action on climate change. Andrea Leadsom, the new environment secretary, who received support from key Ukip figures, asked her officials in 2015 if climate change was real when she became energy minister.
The politics of Brexit are set to dominate Britain for years to come, holding hostage a broad range of public and environmental policy. One of the greatest threats to effective climate action will simply be the huge distraction for Whitehall of negotiating Brexit and renegotiating countless other treaties. The tragedy is that the whole project is built on a wildly distorted projection of Britain's relative role in dealing with the global displacement of people.
While the number of displaced people is shockingly high and rising globally, the latest figures from the UN clearly show it's not countries like Britain that are mainly dealing with the problem. More than eight out of 10 refugees were given shelter by poor and middle-income countries close to conflicts, not by the world's wealthy countries.
Yet David Cameron, was just one politician to use inflammatory, dehumanising language, describing migrants coming to Britain as a "swarm". The new prime minister, Theresa May, did little better, running the Home Office with a policy to create a "hostile environment" for people in the UK without legal permission with mobile posters telling them to "go home or get arrested".
Tightening border controls for people in a world of freely moving finance and one-sided trade, and in the grip of climatic upheaval, can only entrench and worsen poverty. It takes away one key, remaining option for people to improve their circumstances: to migrate.
Conversely, an environmentally viable, more equal global economy needs better management of international finance and trade. How can these things be balanced? Wanting to manage your borders is entirely legitimate, if done fairly and coherently. But that means exemplary climate policy and other innovations – such as taxing destabilising, cross-border financial speculation – as one attractive way of paying to ease tensions around migration.
But Britain finds itself in the grip of self-defeating politics, with a new carbon budget but no policy package to deliver it, accused by Ban Ki-moon's UN climate envoy of betraying the Paris deal. The National Grid says we are set to miss our renewables and emissions reduction targets. Having voted to leave Europe, it now looks as if we are voting to leave a stable climate.
Some are understandably keen, perhaps desperate, to discern a silver lining from the current cloud, assuming some grander scheme in the manoeuvres of the new administration. But, in politics, signals matter. And, few seem stronger than housing the new government department for exiting Europe in the offices of the abolished Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Links

• It's the economy that needs to be integrated into the environment - not the other way around
• Imagine the fate of a global climate treaty without the EU
• We are making the wrong energy choices for future generations
• When it comes to a shift to low-carbon energy, key players need a history lesson