Climate Migration

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Climate Change Forcing Many to Flee Honduras, Highlighting Need for Protection

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Climate Change Forcing Many to Flee Honduras, Highlighting Need for Protection

Following an official visit to Honduras, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, Ian Fry, is sounding the alarm about how climate change impacts are pushing many people to leave the Central American country.

Fry found that communities are facing prolonged droughts, severe flooding events, and coastal erosion and inundation due to climate change. These impacts are “forcing people to leave their homes and seek more sustainable livelihoods” elsewhere in order to avoid starvation and a lack of safe drinking water. Industries that provided stable livelihoods just a few years ago are now being swallowed by rising seas, creating “‘ghost communities with only old people left’”. In one Dry Corridor community the Special Rapporteur visited, drought has forced 80% of residents to leave Honduras, given how limited livelihood options are elsewhere in the country. 

The World Cup of Climate Injustice

The World Cup of Climate Injustice

When the world’s best players take the field in November, they will be playing in stadiums that at least 6,500 migrant workers died to build. It is believed that the number could actually be much higher, Of the countries that sent a large number of migrant workers to Qatar, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are the only ones that actually kept track of how many of their citizens have died. Since 2010, an average of 12 people have died each week constructing the World Cup infrastructure from these five countries alone. Other countries with a large number of workers in Qatar, including The Philippines and Kenya, have not kept track of fatalities. On average nearly two workers have passed away daily, listed officially as ‘natural causes.

To Mitigate Climate Change, Combat Slavery and Protect Climate Migrants & Refugees

To Mitigate Climate Change, Combat Slavery and Protect Climate Migrants & Refugees

Addressing the needs and protection of climate migrants is a matter of human rights, but according to a new study linking modern slavery and climate change, it might also hold massive potential in mitigating climate change. Astonishingly, modern slavery emits 2.54 billion tons of CO2 a year and over the past few years, increasing correlations have been made recognizing the nexus between climate change, migration and modern slavery. According to Anti-Slavery International, modern slavery can come in the form of human trafficking, forced labor, debt bondage, forced prostitution and child labor among others, and now climate-induced migration is increasing migrants’ vulnerability to modern slavery.

Climate Change Displacing Already Vulnerable Iraqis; Spells Trouble for Region

Climate Change Displacing Already Vulnerable Iraqis; Spells Trouble for Region

With about 30 percent of Iraq covered in desert, all of these added climate problems, along with a population rapidly increasing, which we detailed in this earlier Spotlight, renders an already vulnerable population from conflict, geopolitical tensions, decades of sanctions, chronic poverty and corruption, rather fragile. It’s no wonder then that right now, thousands of families across Iraq continue to be displaced from their homes in rural parts of the country due to the loss of arable land and water scarcity.

2021 Deepened Climate Migration as Survival

2021 Deepened Climate Migration as Survival

2021 closed with yet another year of record forcibly displaced persons and the climate crisis played a major role driving over 84 million people out of their homes.

We already know that in 2020, three times as many people - 30.7 million - were internally displaced by the climate crisis than by conflict or violence. Numbers over the last decade don’t fair any better either, where twice as much displacement was triggered by weather-related events than conflict or violence. The trends tell us people are being forcibly displaced, forced to migrate and wherever possible, migrating to survive.

Transformative Climate Action Must Include Loss & Damage Suffered by Migrants

Transformative Climate Action Must Include Loss & Damage Suffered by Migrants

Climate finance is a justice issue. At COP26, developed high-emissions countries, who acknowledge the importance of climate finance, but fail in commitments, must compensate communities on the front line for irreparable losses and damage and help resettle displaced people.