Climate refugee

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A Climate refugee is a displaced person caused by climate change induced environmental disasters. Such disasters result from both incremental and rapid ecological change and disruption that include increased droughts, desertification, sea level rise, and the more frequent occurrence of extreme weather events such as hurricanes, cyclones, flooding and tornados.

There is no set definition of what constitutes a climate refugee and they are often classified as environmental refugees. No central tally is kept by the United Nations of either classification. In the World Disasters Report 2001[1] published by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, more people are now forced to leave their homes because of environmental disasters than war. They estimate approximately 25 million people could currently be classified as being environmental refugees.

Norman Myers of Oxford University has estimated climate change will increase the number of environmental refugees six-fold over the next fifty years to 150 million. Australian climate scientist Dr Graeme Pearman has predicted that a 2°C rise in temperature would place 100 million people 'directly at risk from coastal flooding' by 2100. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has suggested 150 million environmental refugees would exist by 2050.

The inhabitants of the Carteret Islands are the first climate refugees due to sea level rise attributed to global warming and climate change. Other inhabitants of low lying islands and Island states, are also at risk. Tuvalu is especially susceptible to changes in sea level and storm surges igniting a controversy over climate change.

The term "Climate Refugee" (in french, Réfugiés Climatiques) was used for the first time by the photographers/journalists from the Collectif ARGOS, based in Paris, who started their investigations on the subject in 2002. The photos are available on their website.