Washington, DC – As world leaders gather to negotiate an agreement to address the impact of climate change, Refugees International urged them to make climate displacement a priority. Natural disasters, such as cyclones and droughts, have already forced millions of people from their homes. It is clear that developing countries will need a great deal of support to prevent displacement and to provide shelter and other resources to displaced people. Refugees International is urging President Obama and other leaders to recognize this challenge while they negotiate a new agreement, and ensure that all parties to the agreement commit themselves to preventing displacement and meeting the needs of people displaced by climate change.
“In the coming decades the consequences of climate change threaten to forcibly displace people on a scale that will dwarf displacement due to persecution and conflict,” said Joel Charny, acting president of Refugees International. “President Obama and other leaders at the Copenhagen conference must guarantee that people uprooted by climate change will receive assistance while their safety and security is ensured.”
In Barcelona this November, negotiating text was drafted that began to address displacement related to climate change. The language urges parties to undertake activities related to “internal and cross-border migration and displacement” and identify ways to “respond to the needs of affected populations” who are displaced by the effects of climate change. Refugees International urges negotiators to include and strengthen this language as they work towards a final comprehensive agreement. Further, Refugees International believes that discussions need to begin now on the creation of an international legal framework that will protect people displaced across international borders by climate change who are not eligible for refugee status under the 1951 Refugee Convention.
There are currently 41.2 million people displaced by conflict. Estimates indicate that 50 million to 1 billion people will be displaced by climate change over the next 50 years. The most immediate threats from climate change are in the form of storms of increasing intensity, such as Cyclone Nargis in Burma; greater incidence of drought and floods that make traditional livelihoods unsustainable; and increased conflicts over access to limited resources. The war in Darfur derives, in part, from conflict over scarce resources as the desert expands. Other dramatic impacts are also predicted in the long term, such as the disappearance of island states like the Maldives. According to a recent joint study by the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 20 million people were forced out of their homes in 2008 due to natural disasters like droughts, hurricanes and floods.
“Taking the time to discuss and prepare strategies now will help address the massive challenge that climate displacement will pose for us in the future,” added Mr. Charny. “We should not sit back and wait for hundreds of thousands of people to be displaced when the next natural disaster strikes or the next conflict erupts over scarce resources.”
Refugees International advocates for lifesaving assistance and protection for displaced people and promotes solutions to displacement crises. In August 2009, Refugees International established the Ken and Darcy Bacon Center for the Study of Climate Displacement thanks to a generous gift from former RI President Ken Bacon and his wife Darcy. To learn more, including how to support the new Center go to: www.refugeesinternational.org/climate-displacement.
