Climate migrants
On January 27, Dra. Cláudia Pedra came to our school and talked about refugees. We
got curious about climate "refugees" and we read a few articles she recommended us.
Due to climate change there is people on the move in relation to drought, floods,
storms - climate migrants. They are not legally considered refugees according to
international refugee law. Changing rainfall, heavy flooding, and sea level rise put
pressure on people to leave their homes and livelihoods behind. This is already
happening in Kiribati and Tuvalu, where people are dealing with sea-level rise, in
West Africa where farmers cannot cultivate their crops or raise livestock anymore
because of drought and flooding. According to the IPCC in 2050 there might be 200
million climate migrants. Several of the targets established by the SDGs general goals
could be used to protect climate migrants - eg. SDG 13 on climate action. Another
solution could be dedicating greater resources to mitigate climate migration.
Mª Leonor and Pedro
HEAT HUNGER DROUGHT CONFLICTS
CLIMATE CHANGE
Figure 4. Drought.
FLOOD
CARBON
DIOXIDE
ESCAPE
THIRST
Figure 5. Climate change.
St. Clare College
Secondary
School
PLANET A! | 58