The number of climate refugees around the world could exceed one billion by 2100, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Asian Development Bank warn in a report released last week.
“Migration is happening all the time, but with unabated global warming…we’ll have to move over a billion,” said Potsdam’s director of climate science research, Prof. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber. Singapore-based Eco-Business notes that the Asia Pacific will be the most vulnerable region, with Bangladesh the country most at risk.
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With a 6.0°C temperature increase projected for some parts of Asia and the Pacific by 2100, the report foresees “drastic changes in the region’s weather systems, agriculture and fisheries, biodiversity, trade, and urban development,” Eco-Business notes. “The living conditions that result in the tropics would make it almost impossible for people to live outside, prompting migration on a massive scale.”
Summer heat waves that would normally be expected once in 740 years—or even more severe events that would be statistically likely every three million years—“could become commonplace in tropical countries such as those of Southeast Asia by the late 21st century.”
“In South Asia, food shortages induced by climate change could increase the number of malnourished children by seven million by 2050,” said Bambang Susantono, the ADP’s vice-president for knowledge management. The report notes that many of Asia’s poor live in low-lying coastal communities that are most vulnerable to sea level rise and storm surges. “Asia is now the economic powerhouse of the world, but the values are being generated using the old conventional model of industrialization,” Schellnhuber said. “If Asia can turn the tide, the region will make a major contribution to the survival of our civilization.”
Susantono said the ADB has promised to double its climate financing to US$6 billion per year through 2020, including $2 billion for climate mitigation and $4 billion for adaptation.
When I was a child, I would often say, ” if only I could have this or do that” or ” if only this would happen or that would happen”. She would always reply, “yes, and if a dog had wings it could fly”. You global warming scare mongers, with your “could be” scary scenarios, being that to mind. The difference is that you are not innocent, ignorant children but you are either foolishly blind ideologues or are corrupt globalist bent on wealth redistribution. In either case, know, deep in your heart, that any change in climate is not being caused by human activity but since it provides such a great opportunity to obtain your goal, you cannot help but perpetrate that scam. Sad….very sad!
What you may not have noticed, with your odd focus on globalism and wealth redistribution, is that the “could be” scenarios around climate impacts are already happening right now. But that’s as much effort as I think anyone involved with climate solutions should be prepared to put into trying to convince climate deniers that science is a thing.
If you don’t believe the evidence, that’s fine. If you think your life would be better with cleaner air and water, you can and should still work to shut down the coal plant nearest you, whether or not you think the resulting climate benefits matter. If you support land rights, you should be in Nebraska right now, joining the latest fight against the Keystone pipeline. If you like the idea the less highway congestion would shorten your daily commute, please don’t give up those extra minutes or hours in your day or the savings at the gas pump, just because you’re also reducing your carbon footprint. And if you support job creation in the energy sector, you might want to look at our recent coverage of the “de-manning” trend in the fossil industries and contrast it with the 24 million renewable energy jobs anticipated by 2030.
But you’d better be careful! At this rate, you might soon be a part of the Great Global Conspiracy yourself. If, that is, there were the slightest whit of evidence that such a conspiracy ever existed.