In 2009, the surviving locals were said to be among the first in the world to be killed by famine on a stony field near the Ethiopian-Kenya border, and all the rivers dried up. refugee.
Some argue that the definition of “climate refugees” is inaccurate, as many people fleeing the effects of climate change do not leave their countries, based solely on climate events, and generally do not face persecution. However, from the above-mentioned areas to the north, the Sahel region, which stretches for thousands of kilometers on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, is now the region most affected by climate change and the most unstable politically and economically. “Climate refugees” are indeed being born.
Those pastoralists who migrated across borders along the borders of Nigeria, Mali, Chad, and Cameroon moved south as their livelihoods became more difficult, coupled with the intensification of violent conflicts between Nigerian pastoralists and farmers, and the rampant terrorist organization “Boko Haram”. A large number of local refugees fled the area. The United Nations has warned that as many as 18 million people in the Sahel will face severe food insecurity by late August, the most since 2014.
Dual refugees trapped in climate and conflict also travel long distances across borders. A 2020 report in the Nigerian newspaper Herald links northern Nigeria to South Africa, 7,000 kilometers away: Christian Joseph Oluwasai flees after his pastor father was killed by Boko Haram. South Africa, but after the public security crisis broke out in South Africa in 2019, there is no news, and it is likely to be more dangerous.
South Africa is a safer place of refuge for refugees like Oluwasai, but South Africa itself is also under heavy political and economic pressure. Faced with life’s predicaments, a small number of locals take their anger out on the more vulnerable migrant population, blaming migrants for taking away their jobs and housing and undermining their living conditions – even though migrants make up only about 4% of South Africa’s workforce .
In fact, the effect of foreign labor on the South African economy is positive, and the street grocery stores opened by immigrants can also bring convenience. And, during apartheid, other African countries also offered various kinds of help to black South Africans. However, when the stress of life comes and there is no effective response, it seems easier to exaggerate the problems caused by a small number of immigrants than to solve the real problems. Strangeness creates more estrangement. South Africans are relatively friendly to Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland, which have similar languages and cultures, but feel isolated from Mozambique and Zimbabwe, which are more economically embarrassed; the most distant Nigeria, Congo (Kinshasa), Somalia, Suffer the most negative perceptions.
Faced with the ongoing conflicts between farmers and herdsmen, the main possible solution in Nigeria is to clearly define the migration routes of herdsmen, such as dedicating dedicated grazing areas, and allowing some herdsmen to change to a more settled way of life, so that herdsmen are no longer at will Migration and encroachment on farmers’ land. But this delineation also means that herders who move across borders will henceforth be more subject to state control. As can be seen from recent state government plans, official policy is working to distinguish between “legal domestic herders” and “illegal foreign herders”.
In addition to sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America are also hardest hit by “climate refugees”. With 75% of Bangladesh below sea level, rising waters have affected 25.9 million people in the country.
In April last year, the UN refugee agency reported that 21.5 million people had been displaced from their homes by events related to the climate crisis over the past 11 years. This is almost the same as the number of officially registered refugees under UNHCR protection in 2021. The Australian Institute for Economics and Peace estimates that by 2050, 1.2 billion people around the world will be displaced by climate change and related disasters.
Climate change perpetuates poverty. Ironically, those who are least responsible for climate change are most affected by climate change.
