One of the worst consequences of climate change is find yourself in the situation of having to leave what has been your home throughout your life. Whether it is due to a hurricane that has devastated your town, the rising sea level that threatens homes, or the drought that reduces water reserves so quickly that it is causing deaths due to lack of water in your area, you will have no choice. than to go in search of a better life.
Human beings are very intelligent animals that have known how to adapt and colonize all parts of the world, but nature has always had a foot in front of us. This is how climate change affects the displacement of people according to data from Observatory of Internal Displacement (IMDC).
During 2016, there were several natural disasters that tested millions of people around the world. Only in Cuba, Hurricane Matthew forced a million people to evacuate, not counting those who had to leave also due to the loss of their homes.
In the Philippines, strong typhoons and intense tropical storms almost 15 million human beings they have had to leave the country. In Myanmar, an earthquake and monsoon floods displaced more than 500.000 people in 2016.
Human displacement due to conflicts (second and third column) and natural disasters.
Image - Internal-displacement.org
In Asia, and more specifically in China and India, the increase in desertification and the lack of basic resources, as well as environmental pollution, have caused the displacement of more than seven million and more than two million people respectively.
According to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, an average of 21,5 million people have been displaced each year by climate-related threats since 2008. If this continues and action is not taken to tackle climate change, that number is expected to rise.