As the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) concludes in Baku, Azerbaijan, global commitments to address climate change are once again being confronted with the stark realities on the ground of widespread weather-related displacement.According to the 2024 Global Report on Internal Displacement, at least 6.6 million people worldwide were displaced by weather-related disasters by the end of 2023.However, many were displaced multiple times primarily due to floods, storms, droughts and wildfires, resulting in a total of at least 20.3 million forced movements throughout the year.An additional 1.1 million people were displaced by natural disasters not directly attributed to climate change such as earthquakes and volcanic activity.“It is expected that the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance will grow exponentially in countries vulnerable to climate change,” the Norwegian Refugee Council’s global lead on climate and environment, Julie Gassien, told Al Jazeera.“Climate change will contribute to much larger numbers of people being displaced and will lead to more, larger and more intense hazardous events”, she added.Where did climate change cause the most displacement?The countries with the highest number of weather-related displacements in 2023 were China (4.6 million) and the Philippines (2.1 million). There, Typhoon Doksuri, one of the most powerful storms of the season, displaced more than a million people and killed dozens.In Africa, Somalia experienced the continent’s highest number of displacements with 2 million, largely due to the “worst floods in decades” forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.Weather-related events also increase risks for already vulnerable communities, including those affected by conflict, said Ezekiel Simperingham, global manager for migration and displacement at the International Federation of the Red Cross.“The compounding impacts affect people’s lives, health and livelihoods,” he told Al Jazeera, noting that these communities also struggle to receive the support they need.Floods and storms accounted for the vast majority of displacements with 9.8 million and 9.5 million respectively, followed by droughts (491,000) and wildfires (435,000).Wet mass movements, such as landslides, led to at least 119,000 displacements, while erosion and extreme temperatures caused 7,000 and 4,700 displacements, respectively.The number of weather-related displacement incidents has risen sharply over the past 16 years, since the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) began tracking them in 2008.Floods, in particular, have seen a clear upward trend despite some fluctuations, rising from 272 weather-related incidents in 2015 to a peak of 1,710 incidents in 2023 – an increase of more than six times.Similarly, storm events, including hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons, have experienced a significant surge, growing more than seven times from 163 recorded incidents in 2015 to 1
Dom. Dic 22nd, 2024
