Stop exodus in flight from climate change extremes
Richard Lichan Lekuterer, 60, sits in a boat as it glides above what used to be his homestead where only the ridge of a thatch roof of one of the four buildings that stood in his flooded compound at Salabani village near Marigat, Baringo county in this picture taken on October 5, 2020.
State and non-state actors must intentionally predict climate hazards that cause human displacement.
Migrants and refugees should feature heavily in global and national climate adaptation agenda and plans.
It is usually hard to imagine that climate change would cause human displacement. Harsh climatic conditions are forcing populations in hotspots to become refugees, migrants or internally displaced persons (IDPs). People are moving from their homes in their millions in a climate ‘exodus’.
The “2020 Forced Migration Review” data shows that 547,000 people (3.6 per cent of its population) were newly displaced by extreme weather events in Somalia in 2018. IOM lists climate change among the ‘drivers of migration’, saying sudden or progressive environmental and climate changes may lead individuals to migrate temporarily or permanently.
