Without action, hundreds of millions of people at risk of climate displacement: UN migration agency

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) – Hundreds of millions of people are at risk of becoming climate migrants if the world fails to take action, the head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned on Friday.

"The UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) has said that 300 million people live in communities that are extremely climate vulnerable. That means that if you do not take action, there are hundreds of millions of people at risk of displacement," Amy Pope said in response to a question from Anadolu, at a press conference after the IOM's International Dialogue on Migration program in Geneva.

"The actual number of who will become climate migrants is not knowable," she said, adding the figure is "dependent on the actions of individuals, governments, and companies and other sectors to decrease their emissions and to create more sustainable solutions."

The effects of climate change on human mobility are among her top three priorities as the new head of the IOM, she said.

"The reason we're highlighting those numbers now is because that impact on communities could be extraordinarily significant," she said.

The IOM wants to raise awareness of the impact of climate change on human mobility, she said, but most importantly, to drive engagement, resources, support for innovative solutions, and govern other actors to help be part of creating those solutions.

"Our goal is to get policymakers, governments and civil society to start thinking and acting as proactively as possible," she concluded.

In its Thinking about Tomorrow, Acting Today: The Future of Climate Mobility paper published on Friday, the IOM said the direct effects of climate change, exacerbated by secondary impacts such as declining agricultural productivity, are estimated to cause the internal migration of up to 216 million persons by 2050.

By 2030, an estimated 50% of the world’s population will live in coastal areas exposed to flooding, storms and tsunamis, the paper warned.

Furthermore, between 50% and 75% of the human population may be exposed to periods of life-threatening temperature and humidity conditions by 2100.