Posts Tagged ‘migration’

Environmentally caused migration

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

A global phenomenon is arising with people moving as a result of climate change – estimates are at 200 – 700 mill. by 2050.  Will these refugees be recognised?  We may need a revised legal regime for these migrants.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is central in the picture, and must be given new powers or break down? The costs of handling this are huge, running into tens of billions USD.

The World Disaster Report from the Red Cross estimates that 213 mill. people were hit by natural disasters last year.

James Lovelock is pessimistic and expects a collapse in human population, for many reasons including migration, with lifeboat regions surviving.

We also have the development of urbanism – many badly planned – resulting in possible collapse. Could this result in larger ungoverned areas in the world?

So far this is a part of the emerging risk picture  – many solutions can be found to stem the tide.