How many of us are affected by climate change? And it's all to do with water! [Quick to be discussed!]

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As per the journal publication “Global Hotspots of Climate-related Disasters” (June 2024) [1] climate-related disaster events directly impacted over 44 % of the global population in 2020. The climate related disasters are drought, riverine flood, tropical cyclone, flash flood, land slide and mudslide, wildfire and heatwave. Droughts have affected the most people, with over 1.4 billion, followed by riverine floods, which have affected more than 1.2 billion. The percentage of the population impacted understandably decreases with an increase in Human Development Index.

With changes in weather and climate, such as global warming, disasters are occurring more strongly and more regularly. They have a greater impact on already oppressed populations and geographical regions are more severely affected.

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Climate-related disasters affected substantially less people in European countries than in Australia, Africa, North America, Asia, and South America. The low percentage of individuals harmed by climate-related disasters in countries with high levels of Human Development Index, as well as in European countries, could be attributed to people’s ability to execute adaption techniques.

Climate-related disasters have touched more than 100% (cumulative percentage) of people in 19 nations, indicating that vast numbers of people in certain countries, particularly in the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia, have been affected year after year. This recurring impact most likely indicates that adaptation efforts in those countries have fallen short in assisting people and ecosystems to adjust to climate change.

Due to 205 climate disaster related events (mostly riverine flood, heatwave, flash flood and land slide) in India between 2000 and 2020, more than one billion Indians were impacted. India ranked 131 out of 189 countries in the Human Development Index in 2020 and 134 in 2022.

How many of us are affected due to climate change?

The Indian Context

Besides immediate economic and health impacts due to climate changes in India, I foresee that migration will have a serious and long term effect on Indian society. From the Wikipedia article “Climate change in India” [2]:

“By the year 2050, India is expected to witness a significant increase in climate-related displacement, with around ** 45 million people compelled to migrate from their homes due to climate disasters. This number is three times higher than the current count of individuals being displaced because of extreme weather events.”

Climate migrants can also become political refugees depending on the prevailing political situation. Author Shreya Singh in the publication “Climate Migration and Displacement: Challenges and Responses” (Feb 2024) [3] and author Mala Balaji in the publication “Climate-induced displacement: A new normal for India’s vulnerable communities” (July 2023) [4] provide deep dives in this topic. Since these environmental migrants are not regarded as refugees in the traditional sense, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has noted the need for a broader definition of the term “refugee.”[5]

Such displacements can have negative impacts on social well-being, economic stability, and environmental sustainability, causing countries to experience severe setbacks in all areas of development. Human rights violations, a worsening of already-existing disparities, the fast urbanisation and resulting resource shortage, and threats to national and regional security are a few of these effects.

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Notes and references

  1. Global hotspots of climate-related disasters https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420924002504 ↩︎

  2. Climate change in India - Wikipedia ↩︎

  3. Climate Migration and Displacement: Challenges and Responses - Indian Council of World Affairs (Government of India) ↩︎

  4. https://climateconnection.org.in/updat ↩︎

  5. see also Notes de cours : Réfugié⋅es au 21e siècle − Qu’est ce ’Réfugié⋅es’ et confusion terminologique | Xavier Coadic & Lecture Notes : Refugees in the 21st century – A world of refugees and 2 questions about camps | Xavier Coadic & Contre-cartographie, renversement(s) et activismes | Xavier Coadic & Xavier Coadic | Ce que je fais et Qui je suis & Notes de lectures : Les camps et enfermement(s) | Xavier Coadic ↩︎