As the scientific debate about human mobility due to climate change blossomed in the 1980s, a dispute arose: what should the people affected be called? “Climate refugees,” it was called in the beginning – today people use this term liberally due to definitional issues. “Climate migrants”? The terms ‘migrant’ and ‘migrant’ are actually intended for people who are moving permanently. However, many of those affected only postpone this seasonally or at short notice – and within the same state. Climate migration is largely internal migration. The causes must also be distinguished. Are these ‘normal’ environmental events or events that can be attributed (as clearly as possible) to climate change? And was the migration forced or to some extent voluntary?
All these indicators, which are not clearly distinguishable from each other, have led to a large difference between the reported and expected numbers of climate migrants. The 2020 study from the Institute for Economics and Peace think tank expects a billion people to be affected by 2050. The World Bank’s Groundswell Report II (2021) estimates that there are 216 million internal climate migrants, mainly in the South (86 million in Sub-Saharan Africa, 40 million in South Asia and 17 million in Latin America) .
The figures for the five most affected countries in this article all come from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) of the Norwegian Refugee Aid Agency. They include only internal migration, that is, movements within the same state.
As the examples show, this is a snapshot from 2022. A year earlier, the sad leader would not have appeared in the top 5. Pakistan recorded ‘only’ 70,000 postponements in 2021. By 2022, this number will increase more than a hundredfold.
The South is mainly affected by climate migration. This is not only due to climatic reasons, but also due to the expansion of the infrastructure. Richer countries are financially more powerful when it comes to taking countermeasures.
In Nigeria, 2.44 million people have been displaced due to floods and storms. 2012 was also a catastrophic year in which more than 3 million people were forced to leave their traditional homes.
Last year there were 2.51 million internally displaced persons in India. They were particularly affected by flooding during the rainy season from late May to late October. In the country with the largest population in the world, millions of people have to migrate internally every year. Compared year on year, 2022 was even below average. Just like in Nigeria, 2012 was also a disastrous year here. At the time, 9.1 million people (more than the entire Swiss population) had to flee.
At 3.6 million, the third most internally displaced persons were reported in China in 2022. Muifa is responsible for a third of this. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that this was the first typhoon to hit the metropolis of Shanghai of 25 million since weather records began in 1949.
The island nation of the Philippines reported that 5.44 million people have been displaced due to natural events. Here too, one specific storm, Typhoon Nalgae, was largely responsible. He displaced 3 million people in October.
Pakistan holds the sad title of country with the most internal migrants in 2022. 8.17 million people were displaced here. The two southern provinces of Sind and Balochistan were particularly affected. This was due to flood disasters that lasted from June to October, killing more than a thousand people and causing tens of billions in damage. The enormous amounts of rain, five to seven times normal, were preceded by a devastating drought. This made the ground too hard to absorb the water masses.
Source: Blick
I am Ross William, a passionate and experienced news writer with more than four years of experience in the writing industry. I have been working as an author for 24 Instant News Reporters covering the Trending section. With a keen eye for detail, I am able to find stories that capture people’s interest and help them stay informed.
