On the move - involuntary migration

This week I had prearranged to indulge further into some of the impacts faced by agriculture due to climate change in developing countries (something that we briefly touched on in the last post). However, yesterday I read a piece released by the UN University that was titled ‘A Climate Migrant’s Story, from an Urban Slum in Dhaka’ which focuses on a lady that was forced to migrate from her home due to issues arising from climate change. So I think I will save the topic of agriculture for another week and focus on one of the major social impacts of climate change.

Now imagine for a second that you are forced to flee your home due to severe weather consequences as a result of climate change. Well that is exactly what happened to Belkis and many of the other migrants currently calling the Bhola slum ‘home’. As mentioned in the article, many of the inhabitants currently living within the slum were forced to leave Bhola Island due to the catastrophic Bhola cyclone of 1970. As people like Belkis who live in developing countries are forced out of their homes due to extreme weather patterns as a result of environmental change, they have to leave behind land and agriculture that they own, which they could have cultivated to increase their living conditions thus amplifying the social impacts that arise as a result of climate change.

Belkis and her family are not the first people who have had to flee their home due to impacts arising from climate change and they certainly will not be the last. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre in a study they carried out back in 2012, up to thirty million residents had to leave their properties and livelihoods behind due to impacts of climate change, with nearly all of those relocation's occurring due to sea level rise and increased rainfall in some regions– thus increasing floods, and reduced rainfall in other regions leading to droughts. The image below shows that out of the 32.4 million people displaced, many of them lived in regions known as 'developing', for example in Chad and Bangladesh, along with Pakistan and Nigeria where over 1 million people in each country had been displaced, the highest amount of any country.

Areas in which people have had to migrate from due to impacts resulting from climate change. Regions in dark red are those that have been the most effected. Photo: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC)

Environmental change over the years has had a major influence on worldwide relocation trends according to the International Organisation for Migration. They mention that this is due to the fact that inhabitants in places with low income and poor natural conditions (due to issues arising from climate change) have for many years been displaced from their homes, adding that these internal and external patterns of migration will continue due to the current projection of accelerating climate change. This projection means that many more livelihoods will face unparallelled impacts, especially those living in developing nations as they are less likely to have the resources to implement adaptation and mitigation strategies.

The impacts of climate induced migration:

Although the significances of local and cross border migration are not always damaging, the key impacts devastatingly are, as put by the United Nations Environment Programme. Some of these impacts that the UNEP have looked at such as mounting humanitarian emergencies and hindered growth are currently being faced by Belkis and the other residents of the Bhola slum. Climate migrants are always endangered by hazards and susceptibilities while travelling to and arriving at their new destinations, with some not even making it.

Migration brings huge difficulties to nations with low GDP. The Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers that allow some of these developing nations to apply for debt relief shows the negative views of migration within Africa. This is because migration has led to an increased number of criminal activity, widespread illnesses and environmental degradation all while consolidating the deficiency the continent is already facing (Tacoli 2009). Much indecision still remains as to how countries will respond to forthcoming climate change, which is why it is important to ensure that adaptation and mitigation strategies are effective in combating current and future impacts that force populations into involuntary climate migration.



 So as you prepare to go to bed tonight, have a think about those who have had to leave their homes due to climate change, like Belkis.

DEVELOPING an understanding

So, last week we briefly touched on what a developing nation is and what parts of the world they are most likely to be found. We know that developing countries are in most cases 'poor', and that developed nations are 'rich'. That is the general understanding. But what makes a country like Ethiopia poor and a country like the UK rich?  Well, there is no single reason, in fact there are many, and the Human Development Index as touched on last week is one of those. The following video concisely outlines the factors that could make a country either rich or poor. Although all countries are experiencing growth, developing nations are growing at a much slower rate than developed nations as the video explains, thus meaning the impacts they face to due to climate change are likely to be more severe.

Now that we know what a developing country is, and the reasons why they develop at a slower rate than other nations, the question is, does climate change have a greater impact on them? Well, the simple answer is yes. Agriculture faces the greatest impact due to climate change. Crops are one of the major sources of income for inhabitants of these nations and any loss or damage to them will cause huge problems, affecting their food security thus causing social challenges, and having a knock on effect on the economy. Watch the following video released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, briefly touching on some of the agricultural impacts faced by developing nations due to climate change and the challenges ahead.

For richer, for poorer...

A lady in Burkina Faso shows what is left of her crops. Loss of agriculture is one of the greatest impacts a developing nation can face as this is usually their main source of income. Photo: P. Tosco/Oxfam

Before we take a trip into some of the world’s most under developed nations and try to understand the impacts they face due to climate change, I’d like to welcome you to my first EVER blog. In my 21 years of existence I have never written or read a blog, so it is with some apprehension and enthusiasm that I take you on this expedition with me, into the depths of nations in which climate change has caused major issues, as I (and hopefully you!) try to tackle the environmental and socio-economic impacts that global environmental change brings. Please feel free to comment and interact with this blog, whether it be to agree, disagree or just to leave a thought.

Every single country on the planet is currently facing the impacts of climate change. That is a fact. However, The Gurdian states that studies from the IPCC show that it has and will hit developing regions the most. Areas at high risk of drought such as East Africa will become drier and wet tropical locations e.g. parts of Asia, wetter - thus having a knock on effect on those regions' inhabitants and economy.

I propose to cover (but not limit myself to) the social, economic and environmental impacts of climate change on regions classed as ‘developing’ and how they go about to overcome this problem. It should be remembered that many developing countries, do not contribute to climate change as much as economically established nations e.g. the US, and are therefore bearing the brunt of something they may not have caused. I also intend to look at this in detail over the coming weeks.

The United Nations states that geographical domains for developing nations are: Africa, East Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. What is a developing country I hear you ask? Fear not, your cries have been answered. According to the UN a developing country is a nation with a comparatively inadequate standard of life, and reasonable to low Human Development Index. This index is a proportional evaluation of poverty, mortality rate, quality of education, life expectancy, and other issues. Thus many countries within these regions face limits and constraints to adaptation and mitigation strategies’, therefore increasing their vulnerability and ultimately the impacts this leads to.

 As I bring this post to an end, I'd like to leave you with this graphic: 

Regions in red, amber and yellow are areas that are at potential risk from climate change and the impacts that come with it. Photo: Defence.pk

Have a look at the areas with high vulnerability to climate change (red/amber), and compare them to regions classed as developing by the UN (as mentioned above). What do you see? I can tell you what I see, the areas with high vulnerability are areas described as developing regions by the UN.