A New (Under) Class of Travellers

Experts believe that an increase in environmental crises like droughts or floods due to climate change will cause an attendant increase in migration. How many people will be affected remains unclear with estimates ranging from 200 million to 700 million by 2050. The issue is complicated not only by where to place responsibility for aiding those uprooted by environmental degradation, but also by how to classify such migrants. There are not yet any international organizations designed to help environmental migrants. And though these people face problems similar to refugees, who typically move because of war or oppression, governments do not want to classify them as such because of the entitlement that implies. Even now, when the migrants do move, they often aggravate local conflicts. Some have tried to link many recent conflicts in Africa – Darfur for example – to climate change, though proving or quantifying causation remains a debateable. One thing is certain: dealing with climate change requires not just an environmental solution, but also a demographic one. – YaleGlobal