Earth Equity News

UN Warns of Growth in Climate Change Refugees. By Hannah Strange, London Times, June 18, 2008. "Climate change is forcing growing numbers of people in the developing world to flee their homes and seek refuge abroad, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warned today. Announcing findings that the number of refugees worldwide had risen steeply for the second year running, António Guterres said that environmental degradation induced by climate change was forcing greater displacement as resources became increasingly scarce. The UNHCR's 2007 Global Trends report [PDF, 21 pp] says the number of international refugees under its responsibility rose from 9.9 to 11.4 million by the end of last year. Meanwhile the number of people displaced internally by conflict increased from 24.4 million to 26 million, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre... Mr Guterres said, 'We are now faced with a complex mix of global challenges that could threaten even more forced displacement in the future.They range from multiple new conflict-related emergencies in world hotspots to bad governance, climate-induced environmental degradation that increases competition for scarce resources, and extreme price hikes that have hit the poor the hardest and are generating instability in many places.'"