A U.N. report says a staggering 143 million people will likely be uprooted over the next 30 years by rising seas, searing temperatures and other climate calamities. Experts predict millions in South Asia will move from rural areas to cities.
In Asia, governments are already scrambling to deal with it.
By one estimate, as many as 40 million people in South Asia may be forced to move over the next 30 years because of a lack of water, crop failure, storm surges and other disasters. No nation offers asylum or other legal protections to people displaced specifically because of climate change, though the Biden administration has studied the idea.People leave their homes for a variety of reasons including violence and poverty, but what’s happening in Bangladesh demonstrates the role climate change also plays, said Amali Tower, who founded the organization Climate Refugees.
The migration flows can be slowed if countries like the United States and European nations act now to drop their greenhouse gas emissions to zero, she said. Others say richer countries that produce more emissions should offer humanitarian visas to people from countries that are disproportionally impacted.
The migration doesn’t have to cause a crisis, said Vittoria Zanuso, executive director of the Mayors Migration Council, a global group of city leaders.