Excerpt from ClimaTalk:
As the world comes to grips with the worsening effects of the climate crisis, there has been a growing discussion about what happens to people who are forced to migrate both internally within their borders, and externally to neighboring nations. Covered previously by Virginia Rafaelli, the relocation of entire populations across borders is an issue that will be challenging governments in the near future – but what of those who are displaced domestically?
On top of political instability, war and natural disasters that have usually contributed to such displacements, the climate crisis has begun to exacerbate them globally. Internal displacements are set to become more frequent as severe weather events compounded by resource scarcity push communities to flee their homes in search of safety elsewhere within the country. In 2020, 55 million internally displaced people were recorded in 149 different nations and territories, up from the 50.8 million that had been forced from their homes in 2019.
The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) warns that the rising number of displaced people has strong implications for both domestic and international policy, and that the misconception that it is a short term issue needs to be dispelled. According to the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (GIPD), which describes a set of thirty principles that outline how affected people should be treated, displaced populations should be afforded similar opportunities as other citizens, namely – human rights, education, and protection from discrimination.
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