A good piece looking at climate displacement in Viet Nam. "“There has really been an emerging understanding that it’s not really possible to distinguish a climate migrant from other motives for migration, because climate effects on migration are part of a complex range of influences that result in mobility for some but increased immobility or even voluntary immobility for others,” said Ingrid Boas, an environmental-policy scholar at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. She was the lead author of a 2019 paper in the journal Nature, signed by 30 other climate scholars, warning academics not to buy into “climate migration myths” involving floods of migration."
It is certainly very complex. The UNHCR has said that the complexity and interrelationship of factors means that it is hard to get at precise numbers. But that we are able to see patterns and, at times, clear instances of climate-related forced migration. However it’s characterized, the numbers of people forced to move is skyrocketing. I really hope we see expanded legal protections and global supports.
These numbers of 'forced climate migrants' are disturbing enough but may still be conservative. In the Rev. Jim Antal's Keynote address at the 2023 United Church of Christ Earth Day Summit (find it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPfx7lACSYM), Antal noted the very real possibility of 2 Billion refugees from countries around the equator if we surpass the 1.5 degrees centigrade within 10 years. He suggests that there are many climatologists who think that is quite possible. Rev. Antal is the author of 'Climate Church, Climate World'.
A good piece looking at climate displacement in Viet Nam. "“There has really been an emerging understanding that it’s not really possible to distinguish a climate migrant from other motives for migration, because climate effects on migration are part of a complex range of influences that result in mobility for some but increased immobility or even voluntary immobility for others,” said Ingrid Boas, an environmental-policy scholar at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. She was the lead author of a 2019 paper in the journal Nature, signed by 30 other climate scholars, warning academics not to buy into “climate migration myths” involving floods of migration."
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-vietnam-climate-migrants-crisis/?fbclid=IwAR2GEghohswe52hCcamai_s7gAeAYASuXuOIMH6JVIiusDMwUFbH2v4EgqI
It is certainly very complex. The UNHCR has said that the complexity and interrelationship of factors means that it is hard to get at precise numbers. But that we are able to see patterns and, at times, clear instances of climate-related forced migration. However it’s characterized, the numbers of people forced to move is skyrocketing. I really hope we see expanded legal protections and global supports.
These numbers of 'forced climate migrants' are disturbing enough but may still be conservative. In the Rev. Jim Antal's Keynote address at the 2023 United Church of Christ Earth Day Summit (find it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPfx7lACSYM), Antal noted the very real possibility of 2 Billion refugees from countries around the equator if we surpass the 1.5 degrees centigrade within 10 years. He suggests that there are many climatologists who think that is quite possible. Rev. Antal is the author of 'Climate Church, Climate World'.
Yes, it’s quite possible.