2B.10C: Environmental Refugees

• Global warming

  • 26.5°C seas more common
  • Warmer oceans = more frequent tropical storms
  • Higher storm surges
  • Stronger winds
  • 1.5°C (Paris agreement) - 4990 of world's glaciers would vanish by 2100
  • 3°C = near complete loss of glaciers in Central Europe
• Environmental refugees

  • 250 million occupy global land below projected high tide lines for 2100 under low carbon emissions
  • Due to sea level rise, certain low-lying areas of the world are susceptible to the impacts of climate change
  • They can be managed in some areas that are most at risk with islands such as Maldives and Kiribati
  • Environmental refugees - People who must leave their homes and communities because of the effects of climate change and global warming
• Bangladesh

  • Rise of environmental refugees
  • Rural-urban migration
  • Migration inland
  • 500,000 have left rural land for slums
  • Cyclones once 1 per 20 years, now 1 per 2 years
  • 30 million climate refugees in Bangladesh by 2050
  • Mountain glaciers melt
  • Salt water ruins water table
  • Rise in shrimp and fish farms
• Tuvalu

  • Plan to relocate whole nation of Tuvalu
  • Tuvalu is home to 11,000 people
  • Total land area <26 sqkm
  • Most islands 3m above sea level
  • 20m across at narrowest point
  • Scientists predict Tuvalu could be uninhabitable in the next 50-100 years
  • Unsuitable land for crops
  • Tuvalu reliant on rainwater - underwater supplies contaminated by seawater