The International Organization for Migration (IOM), a Geneva-based body, warned that ‘the world must prepare for a mass increase in climate-linked migration.’ Deemed as a certain reality in the foreseeable future, it is what leaders who wrangled deals at the Copenhagen Climate Conference failed to be alarmed about. The United Nations Climate Change Conference closed dismally on December 18, the same day that the world commemorated International Migrants Day.

According to the IOM, “Climate change and environmental degradation are already triggering migration or displacement all over the planet.” The organization added that ‘right now, “it is the world’s poorest countries that are bearing the brunt” of the migration’ and that world leaders must make “greater efforts, beyond Copenhagen” to tackle the complex issue.’

IOM asserts that ‘environmental migration “is a growing trend” and that “climate change, demographic trends and globalization all point to more migration in the future.” IOM Director General William Lacy Swing believes that ‘experts still struggle to measure the number of people worldwide who choose to leave or are driven from their homes because of climate change and environmental degradation.’

As policy makers are yet to grasp the full extent and gravity of climate migration, climate-linked emigration already have hotspots in Asia, Africa, and Central and Latin America. While the general malaise occurs in developing countries, the phenomenon of climate migration ‘will also pose a major challenge to the developed world.’

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Via AFP in raw story