Climate Migrants

Published on 06 Apr 2025

Climate migrants, also known as climate refugees or environmental migrants, are individuals or communities compelled to relocate because of the effects of climate change. According to Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA), there would be a threefold rise in the number of people forced to migrate by 2050 due to climate disasters, to an estimated 45 million in India alone.

Causes of Climate Migration

• Sea Level Rise: Coastal regions are susceptible to rising sea levels, which may cause low-lying places to submerge.

• Example: Carteret islanders were named the world’s first “climate refugees,” due to loss of 50% land by sea level rise.

• Drought and Water Scarcity: Long-term droughts and altered precipitation patterns might cause water scarcity, which will have a detrimental effect on agriculture.

• Example: According to WHO, Water scarcity impacts 40% of the world’s population, and as many as 700 million people are at-risk of being displaced as a result of drought by 2030.

• Temperature Extremes: Rising temperatures and heatwaves can render certain locations uninhabitable, especially in areas with vulnerable people or where conventional livelihoods are no longer viable.

• Extreme Weather Events: Hurricanes, cyclones, and other extreme weather events with increased frequency and intensity can damage infrastructure, disrupt livelihoods, pushing people to relocate to safer locations.

• Example: According to UNHCR, an annual average of 21.5 million people were forcibly displaced each year by weather-related events – such as floods, storms, wildfires and extreme temperatures – between 2008 and 2016.

Threats of climate migration

• Loss of Livelihoods: Climate change may have an impact on the productivity of fisheries, agriculture, and other sources of income.

• Example: Sundarbans has suffered a loss of more than Rs 2 Lakh crore in property and livelihoods in the last four decades because of climate change.

• Displacement and Forced Migration: The primary threat is the displacement of communities due to the loss of habitable land, making residents climate migrants.

• Example: Weather disasters caused by climate change displaced 43 million children, according to UNICEF

• Conflict Over Resources: Conflicts between migrant populations and host communities may arise from climate-induced migration's exacerbation of competition for limited resources. 

• Example: Shrinking natural resources due to adverse weather led to conflict in countries like Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

•  Social Inequities: Climate-induced migration may disproportionately affect vulnerable communities, who frequently have fewer resources and a lower capacity for adaptation.

• Example: In the Philippines when Typhoon Haiyan displaced 4 million people in 2013, most of the women and children were sexually exploited and trafficked.

• Loss of Cultural Identity: Cultural identity may be lost as a result of migration since tribes are uprooted from their traditional lands.

• Health Risks: Unsanitary living conditions, changes in disease patterns, and congested housing could make health problems more common.

Government initiatives and policy measures

• National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC): It outlines a national strategy that aims to enable the country to adapt to climate change and enhance the ecological sustainability of India’s development path.

• Smart Cities Mission: To promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment through the application of 'Smart' solutions.

• National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC): It was established to assist initiatives and plans that encourage adaptation to climate change.

International initiatives

• United Nations Network on Migration: It was established to ensure effective, timely and coordinated system-wide support to Member States in their implementation, follow-up and review of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

• Nansen Initiative: It is a state-led, bottom-up consultative process intended to build consensus on the development of a protection agenda addressing the needs of people displaced across international borders in the context of disasters and the effects of climate change.

• Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD): A toolbox to better prevent and prepare for displacement and to respond to situations when people are forced to find refuge, within their own country or across the border.

Way Forward

• Climate-resilient solutions: It is critical to invest in enhancing local climate resilience and safeguarding community economies. Solutions such as communal ponds, rooftop water collection, etc., can be effective.

• Climate Diplomacy: Promote international agreements that strengthen vulnerable populations and give priority to climate resilience.

• Research on Climate Change Refugees: Promote and support research on the ethical, legal, and human rights consequences of migration brought on by climate change.

• Community-Based Adaptation: Use community-based adaptation techniques to enable your local community to recognize and respond to its unique climate issues.

Case study

• Odisha’s model colony for climate refugees in Kendrapara: Around 751 households displaced from seven coastal villages were rehabilitated in the resettlement colony.

Tags:
Environment

Keywords:
Climate change Migrants Global warming Climate migrants

Syllabus:
General Studies Paper 3

Topics:
Environment and Climate Change