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Eco-Migration Could Fuel Future Conflicts
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Extreme weather caused by climate change has already forced many to flee their homes. An EU study says the situation is going to get worse.
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The report says that “vicious” conflicts will erupt in the world’s poorest countries in response to failing harvests and resource shortages, and that this will result in “millions of ‘environmental’ migrants by the year 2020.”
The authors, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana and Commissioner of External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner, warn that Europe will face an influx of immigrants fleeing the effects of climate change.
They warn that if governments do not respond to this threat, it “could trigger frustration, lead to tensions between ethnic and religious groups within countries and to political radicalization."
This isn’t the first time an organization has voiced such concerns.
A Christian Aid report from May 2007 predicted that one in seven people “could be forced to leave their homes over the next 50 years as the effects of climate change worsen an already serious migration crisis.”
Although both reports speak in terms of future hardship, for many Bangladeshis environmentally induced migration is already a reality.
In August 2007, flooding rains caused by climate change left thousands homeless in Bangladesh. A few months later, the country was struck by Cyclone Sidr, which left more than 4,000 people dead or missing.
Then in December 2007, The Christian Science Monitor reported that a tide of Bangladeshi immigrants were illegally moving to Northeast India. The region’s inhabitants reacted to the migration with “a visceral fear … people say they feel under siege—their culture, politics, and security threatened,” the Monitor wrote.
According to an American Aid Worker writing on The New York Times’ On the Ground blog, “Few countries in the world are more acutely threatened by climate-related disasters and climate change than Bangladesh.”
The country’s future prospects are also bleak.
In September 2007, Dhaka scientists predicted that 20 million people in Bangladesh would become climate refugees by the year 2030 because of infertile land caused by melting glaciers and heavy rains.
The authors, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana and Commissioner of External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner, warn that Europe will face an influx of immigrants fleeing the effects of climate change.
They warn that if governments do not respond to this threat, it “could trigger frustration, lead to tensions between ethnic and religious groups within countries and to political radicalization."
This isn’t the first time an organization has voiced such concerns.
A Christian Aid report from May 2007 predicted that one in seven people “could be forced to leave their homes over the next 50 years as the effects of climate change worsen an already serious migration crisis.”
Although both reports speak in terms of future hardship, for many Bangladeshis environmentally induced migration is already a reality.
In August 2007, flooding rains caused by climate change left thousands homeless in Bangladesh. A few months later, the country was struck by Cyclone Sidr, which left more than 4,000 people dead or missing.
Then in December 2007, The Christian Science Monitor reported that a tide of Bangladeshi immigrants were illegally moving to Northeast India. The region’s inhabitants reacted to the migration with “a visceral fear … people say they feel under siege—their culture, politics, and security threatened,” the Monitor wrote.
According to an American Aid Worker writing on The New York Times’ On the Ground blog, “Few countries in the world are more acutely threatened by climate-related disasters and climate change than Bangladesh.”
The country’s future prospects are also bleak.
In September 2007, Dhaka scientists predicted that 20 million people in Bangladesh would become climate refugees by the year 2030 because of infertile land caused by melting glaciers and heavy rains.
Headline Links: The eco-migrant problem
According to The Daily Telegraph, a recent EU report warned that Britain and other European nations would have to deal with “environmentally induced migration” as the impact of climate change becomes more pronounced. The report goes on to say warn that if governments do not prepare for this influx, it could “trigger frustration, lead to tensions between ethnic and religious groups within countries and to political radicalization. This could destabilize countries and even entire regions.”
Source: The Daily Telegraph
According to The Guardian, a May 2007 Christian Aid report has predicted that one in seven people “could be forced to leave their homes over the next 50 years as the effects of climate change worsen an already serious migration crisis.”
Source: The Guardian
An entry written by an American Aid Worker in the New York Times’ “On the Ground” blog focused on the plight of migrants in Dhaka, Bangladesh, who have been displaced by floods. “Few countries in the world are more acutely threatened by climate-related disasters and climate change than Bangladesh,” and “within the next two decades Bangladesh may lose as much as 20 percent of its land to rising sea levels and melting Himalyan glaciers.”
Source: The New York Times’ On the Ground blog
In September 2007, Dhaka scientists predicted that 20 million people in Bangladesh would become climate refugees by the year 2030 due to infertile land caused by melting glaciers and heavy rains. Poor families who have contributed little to climate change are bearing the brunt of “increasingly violent storms and deadly cyclones that scientists have attributed to global warming.” The eco-migration began in 1995 when 500,000 people were left homeless by rising sea levels on Bhola Island. To cope with all of the water, schools and homes are being built on boats.
Source: The Washington Post
Background: Extreme weather in Bangladesh
In Novemeber 2007, Cyclone Sidr became “the worst storm to hit Bangladesh in more than a decade,” leaving 4,000 people either dead or missing.
Source: NPR
After intense flooding in South Asia in August 2007, The New York Times reported that “freak rains, which scientists describe as a hallmark of climate change, seemed to be responsible.” Thousands of impoverished residents living in mud houses were left homeless and weather scientists said that South Asia could expect “much more unpredictable rain in the coming decades.”
Source: The New York Times
A 2002 In Vision Images photo spread showed Bangladeshi people living their lives amidst “the harmful consequences of climatic reheating.” At the time, many people from the district of Sakhira had been driven from their homes by flooding and migrated to Dhaka, the capital and financial center of Bangladesh.
Source: In Vision Images
Related Topics: Bangladeshis in India and the security concerns of global warming
Illegal immigrants from Bangladesh are moving to Northeast India. The residents have expressed fear at the stream of new immigrants, saying that “they feel under siege—their culture, politics, and security threatened,” according to The Christian Science Monitor. An Indian man, driven from his village by immigrant crime, was interviewed by the Monitor and said, “On the surface there is peace. But this migration is a tragedy for us.” Northeastern India is “an independent-minded area … fiercely proud of its distinct heritage and already fretted by a dozen insurgencies,” the paper writes.
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
The New Security Beat reported that “repeated environmental disasters have triggered migration within Bangladesh, but also in India, and these migrations have sometimes led to conflict.” Issues of contention caused by eco-migration include competition for land, water, and jobs, as well as Indians’ concerns over “Bangladeshization” of Indian states. Furthermore, climate change acts as a “threat multiplier” that could “increase grievances and the likelihood of state failure, both of which could facilitate terrorism.”
Source: New Security Beat
FindingDulcinea reports that global warming has prompted a variety of security concerns, particularly regarding the melting of polar ice caps and the opening of the Northwest Passage, which could lead to international disputes over shipping routes.
Source: findingDulcinea
According to a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research, “New frontlines are emerging in the battle to maintain Britain’s security.” These “new frontlines” include “environmentally induced increases in migration across the Sahara and into southern Europe.”
Source: Institute for Public Policy Research
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