left Heavy flooding
from monsoon rains in
Samutprakarn near BangkokUp to 650 million people live in areas that
will be submerged or exposed to chronic
flooding by the year 2100IMAGES © SHUTTERSTOCKSea level rise, one of the most
destructive climate change impacts,
poses an irreversible life-altering threat
to coastal communities and island
states. Nine of the 10 countries with the
largest number of vulnerable people
living in low-lying areas are in Asia.
In the Pacific, climate change threatens
to literally redraw the map.
Entire countries and cultures on
the small states in the world’s largest
body of water confront an uncertain
future. Australian climate researchers
have identified five small reef islands
in the Solomons that have vanished
over the past seven decades, and six
other islands which have lost much
of their land to the sea. Receding
shorelines have wiped out two villages,
forcing residents to higher ground.
The isolated nation of Tuvalu, just two
metres above sea level, appears to be
the country most threatened by climate
change. Peak tides have reached as
high as 3.4 metres.
The international community
has awoken to the human toll of
environment-related displacement,
and to the likelihood that climate
change will exacerbate these
conditions. In 2015, governmentalbelow A police truck is
crowded with evacuated
people leaving their
flooded homes in Thailanddelegations from 109 countries
endorsed the Nansen Protection
Agenda for people displaced by
disaster and climate change, and the
Platform for Disaster Displacement
has been established to implement
this agenda. More than 20 events
discussing the link between climate
change and migration were held during
the COP22 meeting last November in
Marrakech, Morocco.
The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate
change, which was enacted just before
COP22, called for the creation of a
task force to develop ways of avoiding
or minimising human displacement
caused by climate change. This was a
significant advance, and it is important
that the task force be formed, funded,
and active as soon as possible.highlights