CLIMATE DISPLACEMENT IN THE NEWS
Of those evacuees, The Fiji Times is reporting, 200 include “climate change refugees in Dreketi who were relocated more than a year ago” in the wake of cyclone Ana last year. The 200 villagers were relocated last from Navabatu last January after the storm’s impact sustained cracks in infrastructure.
As has been our advocacy message about climate displacement risks, refugees are amongst the most vulnerable of the frontline communities to climate shocks and risks, spending year after year exposed to extreme rains and cyclones in Bangladesh with no access to storm shelters. The Covid-19 pandemic response proves no different.
Data by the Climate Vulnerable Forum shows only 73 out of 160 nations have complied with the 2020 Paris Agreement deadline for countries to submit revised climate plans to the UN.
Of those 73, 69 countries have stepped up commitments in either adaptation or lowering emissions - 57 countries that submitted stronger emissions reduction targets account for only 13% of global emissions, while the 66 countries that committed to stronger adaptation, account for 1.67 billion people, just a fifth of the global population.
The strongest storm the world has seen in four years made landfall in the Philippines on Sunday, devastating Catanduanes Island before moving on to Luzon, the nation’s most populous island. Evacuations may have helped to keep the death toll low, but are nearly 400,000, most of whom are now living in temporary storm shelters. This has raised serious concerns over the spread of COVID-19 in a country already experiencing one of the worst outbreaks in the Asia-Pacific region with cases now over 389,000.
While the Philippines is no stranger to typhoons, reeling from two others in two weeks before Goni, the combination of the pandemic and worsening storms due to climate change has created a very difficult situation for which the country was not adequately prepared.
As the BBC reports, some local officials had already depleted their disaster relief funds trying to combat the pandemic, and evacuation efforts faced challenges in dealing with COVID patients. Indeed, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned that “the most vulnerable displaced populations have become even more vulnerable.” Close quarters at evacuation shelters and the closure of at least one region’s testing center due to storm damage does indeed leave many in a precarious situation, especially groups like women and girls, who’s safety in temporary shelter requires special attention from authorities.
Even if the unfortunate situation facing some local governments’ emergency relief funds were not completely avoidable, Goni’s severity is yet another reminder that the Philippines is not adequately prepared for the impacts of climate change. As the Smithsonian Magazine reports, rising ocean temperatures will subject the Philippines to more frequent and stronger storms, with natural barriers like mangrove forests, dangerously deforested in recent years.
With an end to the global pandemic nowhere in sight, leaders in the Philippines face an urgent task. Adapting to the realities of climate change now must be a top priority for a country that is particularly vulnerable to severe weather, but policies must go beyond preparing for the next typhoon. Implementing better disaster warning systems and climate adaption such as improving infrastructure, and as it relates to evacuation, are two important strategies for limiting the impact of future storms. Unfortunately, Goni may be just the beginning of a destructive season for the Philippines and its neighbors. Humanitarian groups are rightly concerned about the onset of La Nina season, which is likely to bring higher than normal rainfall, with the potential for landslides and flooding, and even more displacement. (Smithsonian Magazine, BBC News, UN News)
Photo by Amali Tower
At a UN Security Council meeting on conflict-induced food insecurity and the risk of famine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), northeast Nigeria, Yemen and South Sudan, WFP Executive Director David Beasley said the the COVID-19 pandemic had compounded widespread food insecurity caused by years of conflict, which now combined with conflict and climate change, meant that “the 270 million people marching toward the brink of starvation need our help more than ever,” adding that 2021 was a “make or break year.”
He urged billionaires and businesses to step up to help save 30 million people at risk of starvation who need $.4.9 billion in aid for one year.
“Worldwide, there are over 2,000 billionaires with a net worth of $8 trillion. In my home country, the USA, there are 12 individuals alone worth $1 trillion.”
“In fact, reports state that three of them made billions upon billions during COVID. I am not opposed to people making money, but humanity is facing the greatest crisis any of us have seen in our lifetimes.”
“It’s time for those who have the most to step up, to help those who have the least in this extraordinary time in world history. To show you truly love your neighbor,” Beasley said. “The world needs you right now and it’s time to do the right thing.”
WFP fears more people may die from hunger, resulting from economic impacts of the pandemic via lockdowns and lost jobs than the virus itself, which has now infected more than 30 million people and killed nearly 1 million people.
WFP warns 20 million are severely food insecure in Yemen and a further 3 million may face starvation due to COVID-19. South Sudan, where a path to peace was hoped, is now facing renewed violence and floods in Jonglei State, and millions are at risk in Nigeria, Burkina Faso and more.
The UN Security Council was briefed on September 17, via videoconference, by the UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock and the Director-General of FAO Qu Dongyu, in addition to Beasley, following a “Note by the Secretariat” by Lowcock, required by Security Council resolution 2417, warning of food insecurity, including the risk of famine, as a result of conflict, in these four countries.
The note highlighted that food security has been exacerbated by natural disasters, economic shocks and public health crises, all compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. It also highlighted the severe flooding over the last two years in South Sudan that destroyed 11,000 tons of cereals and affected 14 million livestock.
In a briefing on Yemen the previous day, Lowcock signaled frustration over severe funding shortfalls in all four countries. (VOA, CNBC, What’s In Blue)
Rostyslav Savchyn via UNSPLASH
At the start of this global pandemic we told you SPOTLIGHT would highlight the particular threats, challenges, needs and gaps refugees and forcibly displaced populations face in this emergency, as well as the contributions and support they provide, in order to better illustrate the complexities of refugee vulnerability as a layered concept. We were glad to see we weren’t alone. Alexander Betts and others highlighted why refugees are an asset in the fight against the Coronavirus, and now this beautiful letter of solidarity out of Uganda, a country where refugees have more than answered the call when social distance measures, closed supply routes and borders became barriers to getting vital help to vulnerable communities.
Now in our fifth month of this pandemic, longer in some parts, the authors rightly ask policymakers, who have fallen short where refugees and displaced communities are concerned:
“How can you flee persecution if the closest border has been closed? How are you supposed to wash your hands when you don’t necessarily have access to clean water? How can you isolate yourself if you live in a crowded camp?
How can you survive during this lockdown without life-saving commodities? How can you seek protection against sexual and gender-based violence if you live under the same roof as your abuser? How can you provide for your families if you can’t go to work?”
Lacking answers, refugees have answered the call. We told you about Ugandan refugee-led organizations that are responding in both camps and cities. Like in the Nakivale Settlement, the Wakati Foundation has been employing refugees to sew and distribute masks, while also raising community awareness about the virus. In Arua, the Global Society Initiative for Peace and Democracy has been conducting hygiene and sanitation information campaigns to slow the spread of the virus. In the urban refugee center of Kampala, fears of the secondary economic problems the pandemic creates are acute as the lockdown restricts access to essential food and health needs. UNHCR acknowledges its struggle to meet the needs of urban refugees and so again, refugee-led organization Hope for Children and Women Victims of Violence has been filling critical gaps through distribution of food and soap to over 400 refugees, while another refugee-led organization is distributing food and soap to 200 vulnerable households.
How in Lebanon when pandemic restrictions limited refugee rights even further, it was refugees who stepped up to meet their communities needs, even as public sentiments turned against them, some even blaming them for the country’s financial woes.
Now these Ugandan authors share even more examples of sheer courage and determination in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. From Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar, Uganda, Lebanon, France, Germany and more, refugees are filling critical gaps the international community is failing.
Lest we blame this all on a virus, it's a good reminder that the virus has laid more bare preexisting structures of gross inequality, failed policies, neglect and forgotten crises all over the world, now at risk for even worse. And when that happens, no doubt refugees will answer the call yet again, but let’s hope when all is said and done, we give refugees their due and no longer sideline them as passive beneficiaries in a system of dependency.
The 2016 World Humanitarian Summit “Grand Bargain” recognized people affected by crises as first responders, and yet, they still remain on the periphery. We agree with Betts and others: it's high time we stop doing that. (Observer)
