Climate migration is the movement of people from one area to another due to impacts related to environmental change and climate change such as drought, and storms.
Climate migrants are individuals who are forced to leave their usual homes or choose to do so, either temporarily or permanently, and who move either within their country or abroad, typically due to environmental factors that adversely affect their lives or living conditions. Currently, there are no laws in place that protect them as they are not even legally recognized. They have no legal recourse when disaster strikes.
Climate migration can be looked at from different perspectives:
- An issue that arises from other forms of loss and damage in cases where the physical: land or shelter is destroyed by climate change forcing people out of their homes.
- As a cause of loss and damage to the people: loss associated with moving. People lose a part of their accustomed way of life, their livelihood, their experiences, and their sense of community which is difficult to recreate.
It is critical to identify strategies for addressing the underlying causes of climate migration, including ways to encourage adaptation, redirect funding to people in need, and address the psychological impact of migration that is brought on by climate change. Climate financing is a key component of supporting vulnerable communities to respond to, prepare for, and adapt to climate and migration risks.
As this is something that migrants did not ask for and therefore it could happen to anyone at any time, nations should likewise be more accommodating to migrants.
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