The Truth is Powerful
Flooding at the Bagmati river in India, a branch of the Ganges, due to heavy monsoon rains and melting of Himalaya glaciers. Climate change will make it harder for the world’s poorest people to migrate – leaving them “extremely vulnerable” to continued impacts and increased poverty, new research finds.
The paper, published in Nature Climate Change , finds that as the impacts of climate change become more severe, people will be increasingly affected by “resource-constrained immobility” – meaning that they do not have the resources to migrate.
The authors find that in a “medium” emissions scenario, there will be a 10% decrease in migration for the lowest income groups by the end of the century. In the most pessimistic emissions scenario, this number will rise to 35%, they add.
The paper underscores the importance of policymaking to address the challenges brought to vulnerable populations by immobility in addition to climate-driven migration.
A scientist not involved in the study tells Carbon Brief that this work supports “[continuing] to further understand the likely plight of those experiencing ‘resource-constrained (international) immobility’ [and] its consequences”. ‘Immobility’
As the climate warms and extreme events around the world become more severe, one adaptation strategy is to migrate to avoid […]