climate change and refugees


CROP FAILURES CAUSED 1.5 MILLION PEOPLE TO MIGRATE FROM RURAL TO URBAN AREAS, JOINING OTHER REFUGEES FROM THE IRAQ WAR.


as little as 1°C could increase the likelihood of African civil war by over 50 percent in 2030, relative to 1990. Crop growth will be affected and because most of sub-Saharan Africa’s


impoverished people on agriculture to survive, they will


become more likely to take up arms, the study concluded.


A more recent 2015 follow-up study made a strong connection between climate change and the war in Syria. Published


in the Proceedings of


“There may be a need for new legal instruments and we could explore the idea of temporary protection schemes,” Guterres said. A number of countries have done this, granting protection on humanitarian grounds until conditions improve for people to return home. At the same time, countries


should be investing in


sustainable measures to help their most vulnerable residents adapt so that leaving their homes is no longer necessary.


CLIMATE CHANGE CAUSES DROUGHTS AND FLOODS, BUT DID IT LEAD TO THE WAR IN SYRIA?


One of the results of climate change is a depletion of natural resources such


as water A and 2009 That means competition


arable for


resources, which can trigger armed conflict.


University of


California, Berkeley research study found that a temperature rise of


land. fewer


the National Academy of Sciences, researchers found that an extreme drought in Syria between 2006 and 2009 was likely due to climate change, and was one factor in the conflict that began in 2011. Crop failures caused 1.5 million people to migrate from rural to urban areas, joining other refugees from the Iraq war.


Along with socio-economic


stresses and government policies, the study concluded that


climate


change acted as a catalyst to the conflict.


The Syrian conflict is now heading into its sixth year, with an estimated 250,000 people


killed 4.7 million refugees and over seeking new


homes in the Middle East, Europe and North America.


UNHCR / 13


rely


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