As the number of climate disasters increases, more and more people are forced to flee their homes, especially in Asian countries.
Statistics from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) show a record 32.6 million disaster-related internal displacements in 2022 – 41% higher than the annual average over the decade. past century. This number is much larger than the 28.3 million people displaced by conflict and violence that same year.
In particular, according to IDMC, 4 of the 5 countries with the highest number of new domestic evacuees due to natural disasters in 2022 are in Asia. Pakistan has the highest number with 8.2 million, followed by the Philippines with 5.5 million and China with 3.6 million.
According to a 2021 World Bank report, climate change could force 216 million people in six regions to move internally by 2050.
However, Mr. Vinod Thomas, senior visiting member of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, noted that these estimates still underestimate reality.
“Forecasts often underestimate the severity of natural disasters. This will increase and increase very quickly,” Mr. Thomas said.
The South Asian region is at highest risk
According to expert Thomas, South Asia may be the region with the most people displaced by climate change because of its population density and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Specifically, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the countries that will be severely affected.
According to the World Economic Forum, the South Asian region could lose 10% to 18% of GDP due to climate disasters. The level of risk increased 10 times compared to Europe.
Mr. Thomas said that internal displacement due to climate change has caused serious economic consequences for the host country. According to IDMC, during the Black Summer forest fires in Australia in late 2019 to 2020, the economic production loss of one person equal to one day’s working wage was about 510 USD. There are 65,000 people newly displaced because of forest fires.
And the number of people displaced by climate disasters has also increased sharply.
“What we see in terms of movement outside is just the tip of the iceberg and a glimpse of what could happen. We are not prepared for that,” Mr Thomas said.
Migration status
Tamara Wood, senior researcher at the Kaldor Center for International Refugee Law, said that although internal displacement due to natural disasters is often much more common than cross-border displacement, recently, people have gradually choosing to move across borders as the impacts of climate change worsen.
In November, Australia signed a migration agreement with Tuvalu, providing for 280 permanent residents in Australia each year.
In Southeast Asia, Senior Advisor to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Pia Oberoi commented that many people have reacted to climate change and environmental degradation.
Clearly, climate change has increased the number of traditional migration flows such as labor migration. For example, large numbers of Bangladeshi migrant workers go abroad to work and even incur large debts to do so.
Some people don’t even have anything to return to because natural disasters have affected crop production in their hometowns and can’t return to slums in the city. Or others are forced to migrate when they can no longer live in their home country.
More action
Mr. Thomas affirmed that countries need to focus on steps to cope with climate change while building funds for relief and recovery activities, adapting to climate change and promoting a decarbonized economy. .
He said Asian countries are currently unprepared for refugee relief and rehabilitation and have not done a good job of building financial and social safety nets. Something to consider going forward would be a facility that draws resources across countries and provides support where needed.
“Most of the time, when problems occur, you are not financially ready. When it comes to resilience, the amount of money allocated to solutions, such as coastal protection, must be considered as part of investment budgets – not discretionary budgets. So we must continuously strengthen adaptive capacity. Strengthening resilience and improving is what is needed to tackle migration due to climate,” Mr. Thomas said.
In addition, expert Wood also suggested that other countries in the Northern Hemisphere or industrialized countries have contributed a lot to efforts to respond to climate change. Countries in this region can provide migration pathways and employment opportunities for people in distress as well as funding to help other countries adapt and manage the problem./