Climate change turning millions into refugees, UN study shows

Science News

Jun 10, 2009, 16:28 GMT

Bonn - Climate change is turning millions of people into refugees, a United Nations climate conference in Bonn heard Wednesday. By 2050 some 200 million people could displaced by drought, floods, storms and other affects of climate change, representatives of UN and international relief organizations said, quoting estimates by the International Organization for Migration. Unless firm action is taken to stop global warming, the consequences could far outstrip anything the planet has ever experienced, according to the authors of a new study. The coming years could see millions forced from their homes and turned into environmentally-induced migrants, the study said, adding that developing countries and island nations will be hardest hit. 'What we need new impulses and practical ideas in order to reduce the risks posed by climate migration to human safety and health, said Koko Warner of the UN University, one of the compilers of the study. According to Charles Ehrhart, climate coordinator of the relief organization CARE, the effects of climate change are playing a greater role in the decision of people to abandon their homes. Such cases are a result of rising water levels along the heavily-populated Mekong river in Vietnam as well as in nations bordering the Ganges in India and the Nile in Egypt, he said. Some 20 million people were turned into climate refugees last year after natural disasters triggered by climate change forced them to flee their homes, the Bonn conference was told Monday. The 192-nation meeting, which is due to end on Friday, is discussing new emission targets to be put in place after 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol on curbing greenhouse gas emissions expires. The Bonn gathering is designed to lay the groundwork for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen from December 7-18, which is intended to sign off on a successor to the Kyoto accord.

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joeJun 10th, 2009 - 17:39:51

The 192-nation meeting, which is due to end on Friday, is discussing new emission targets to be put in place after 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol on curbing greenhouse gas emissions expires.

2012, what a coincidence?

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SteveJun 10th, 2009 - 18:01:07

Thanks for the deep, insightful comment about the year 2012. You're saving lives with every post, man. You're a HERO!

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Zyskandar A. JaimotJun 10th, 2009 - 20:57:47

This story is such BULLSHIT!!! People are migrating because fuckhole dictators like CUBA's CASTRO brothers, 'FATTY' CHAVEZ of VALENZU
ELA, KIM'the dog-eater' of NKOREA,
MUGABE the BLACK THUG of AFRIKA,
BASHIR the pig of the SUDAN, and now last but bot least
BARACH'incurably-dishonest'OBAMA are forcing the citizens of these countries to flee the overt FASCISM inflicted on the populace.
GLOBAL WARMING IS A FRAUD PERPETRATED BY DISAFFECTED COMMUNIST/MARXIST WANNABE'S HOPING TO CONTROL US ALL THROUGH THE STOOPIDITY OF THE GLOBAL ASSHOLE MEDIA!!! The UN should be done any with as they are feckless
and useless.

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TruebritJun 11th, 2009 - 19:10:40

So that's what the problem really is! And I thought it was all the other toxic emissions. Still, nice to see a poster who seems to know what there is of his mind.

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Climate change turning millions into refugees, UN study shows

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