Refugees we don't notice

Migration of people is an age-old phenomenon. People have been migrating around the world for thousands of years for livelihood and better opportunities. But when people are forced to migrate then they become refugees. According to the United Nations, “A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.”

What about people who are forced to leave their own lands because of inhospitable climatic conditions? No international body, including the United Nations recognises people who become refugees due to inhospitable climatic conditions. They may be recognised as refugees but the underlying reason for their displacement from their homes is often omitted and not taken into account. The term climate refugee is not legally recognised. Here comes the concept of Climate refugees.

A climate refugee is someone who is forced to leave their home due to climate-related disasters such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, desertification, rising sea levels, or extreme weather. In 2022 alone, nearly 32 million people were displaced due to weather-related hazards, a 41 per cent increase compared to 2008 levels.

Our planet is warming fast. Global warming is the reason for climate change. That is the monotone that is most often heard as the only reason for climate change. And the reason for global warming is always the increase in emissions of greenhouse gases. Air pollution. But that is far from truth. The most fundamental reason for climate change lies beneath our feet. It is the failing Soil. Sounds unbelievable, right?

There are several regions around the world that are hotspots for climatic displacements. The number of people displaced from their homes in these regions will blow your mind.  South Asia, which holds approximately a quarter of the world's population, faces some of the most severe climate impacts. The World Bank projects that nearly 40 million people in South Asia could be forced to flee their homes by 2050. Bangladesh, a nation with a total population of 160 million people lies on low-lying terrain. Bangladesh is especially vulnerable to floods and cyclones. In 2019 alone, disasters displaced more than 4 million people in Bangladesh. Torrential rains affect over 46 million individuals annually across the Indian-subcontinent. Bangladesh also faces salinity intrusion destroying agricultural lands, loss of landmass to rising water driving both internal and cross-border migration to India.

Almost one-third of Southeast Asia's population lives in areas threatened by climate change, with coastal flooding and rising sea levels swallowing landmass. In Southeast Asia, particularly in Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. The Philippines is particularly affected the most, experiencing typhoons and rising temperatures that drive both internal and international migration.

Sub-Saharan Africa stands as the global epicentre of climate displacement. Particularly, the Sahel region—comprising Senegal, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Sudan—faces devastating conditions. Between 2021 and 2025, nearly 222 million people have been affected by weather, climate, and water-related disasters in Africa. In 2024 alone, a record 7.8 million people were internally displaced by climate disasters in the region—comprising 58 per cent of global climate-related internal displacement. By 2050, up to 5 per cent of Africa's population of approximately 100 million people could be forced to migrate permanently due to climate change, making it the continent with the highest displacement rates.

The islands of Kiribati and Tuvalu in the Pacific ocean, face an existential crisis from rising sea levels and intensifying cyclones. Tuvalu's highest point is only five meters above sea level, with most of the population living less than two meters above sea level. According to 2024 World Bank data, Kiribati is left a population of only 1.35 lakhs and Tuvalu has only 10,000 people living on the island. More than 70 per cent of households in these island nations contemplate that migration would be necessary if droughts, sea-level rise, or floods worsened.

The numbers are unfathomable, but where is the noise? Where is the fanfare? Till the disaster comes to our doorstep, do we ever do anything to protect the environment?

A 2021 World Bank report warns that by 2050, climate change could displace 216 million people across just six regions. That’s more than the population of Germany, the UK, and Canada combined. South Asia alone could see over 40 million internal climate refugees. The UN says 1 billion people living in low-lying coastal areas are at risk from rising seas. This is the largest human migration since World War II… except that it is happening continuously.

Why should climate migration concern you or me? How does it affect our lives? Migration due to inhospitable climate affects everyone — not just those on coastlines. When millions of people move to cities, the fight for resources begins, housing becomes scarce, food prices rise, water demand skyrockets, land is illegally occupied, and the demography begins to alter. The FAO(Food and Agriculture Organisation) warns that climate change could push up to 122 million more people into extreme poverty by 2030. Inevitably this volume of displacement will trigger conflicts, political instability, food crisis and wars for resources. This is not just an environmental crisis — it is a crisis that will unfold into huge instability globally.

What to do?

Now, how to tackle this issue? To tackle this issue, there has to be a workable global consensus and cooperation on many levels between people and governments, so that problems can be identified and suitable policies can be created. Because these issues are no longer the problem of one nation, but an increasingly global issue.

There is no shortage of agreements on paper. Numerous multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) are already in place, for example, The Paris Agreement, The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015, The Montreal Protocol which seems to have succeeded to protect the ozone layer by phasing out ozone-depleting substances obviously not due to collective effort but rather due to market forces, Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted at COP15 which aims to address biodiversity loss. Let me ask you, how many of these agreements have actually worked? None. Did you ever see collective efforts from all stakeholders involved? Never.

Because there is an elephant in the room and that is human greed and our short-sightedness. The solutions are rather simple. But far-reaching. There is a saying- “We get the government we deserve.” So I ask you, have we ourselves taken responsibility? Most of us can not look beyond short-term profits. We love to blame the governments. We elect people in powerful positions who serve as impediments to policy reforms targeted towards protection of the environment. But when it is too late, we resort to directionless and stupid activism. An example of which we have witnessed in Delhi just a few days back regarding the air pollution. When we are so shortsighted, and we cannot see anything beyond short-term solutions, we elect leaders who make decisions that are for their own benefit only. Therefore, however simple the solutions might look, they will still be far-reaching. 

The solutions begin with each one of us, not just governments. The kind of lifestyle we adopt, the choices we make, everything has a toll on the environment. The question is, when will we become sensible? Let us stop blaming and start taking responsibility. It begins with each one of us.