Warnings of climate change have been going on for decades. Now we see its effects on horrific and prolonged heatwaves and wildfires in countries such as Spain or the American West; in the multiple storms of 2020 across the world and in the global projections that sea levels are set to rise by 6 metres.
By 2050, climate change could push more than 216 million people across six world regions to leave their homes unless urgent action is taken, the World Bank has reported. This would lead to “hot spots of internal climate migration” by 2030 that will intensify as the years go on.
In the newest report on September 13, it called on states to reduce global emissions and bridge the development gap to avoid water scarcity, decreasing crop productivity, and rising sea levels and to “build a more sustainable, safe and resilient future,” vice president of Sustainable Development at the World Bank, Juergen Voegele, said in a statement.
The actions recommended by the investigation are achieving net-zero emissions by mid-century and investing in green development in line with the Paris agreement.
Sub-Saharan Africa has been identified as the most vulnerable region due to desertification, fragile coastlines, and the population’s dependence on agriculture. Up to 86 million people are projected to move within national borders in the worst-case scenario.
In the most climate-friendly scenario, with low emissions and sustainable development, the world could still see 44 million people being forced to leave their homes. It is worth mentioning, that short-term impacts of climate change, such as the effects of extreme weather events or climate migration across borders, were not examined in the report.
The first part of the Groundswell report, focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, was published in 2018. The sequel, which includes projections and analysis of internal climate migration for East Asia and the Pacific, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, was published on Monday.
This report has come before the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, scheduled to take place in November.
Spoken words and actions
“There is no planet B, no planet blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah”, has voiced Climate activist, Greta Thunberg. She has called out world leaders for promising much but doing little to tackle global warming in a Youth4Climate speech on Tuesday 28. “There is not about some expensive, politically correct green act of bunny hugging or blah, blah, blah” she added.
"30 years of blah, blah, blah and where has that led us?"
Greta Thunberg called out world leaders for promising much but doing little to tackle global warming in her Youth4Climate speech. pic.twitter.com/E0eb3CrLih
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) September 28, 2021
These worlds represent the growing frustration amongst younger generations that are directly threatened by irreversible climate change. Young people and individuals in difficult living conditions are the ones that are going to see the change unstoppable unfold before their eyes. They see the matter as one of the very survival of the human civilization, but the perpetrators that are largely faulty of the mass destruction are still making money out of it.
The problem is not only about recycling paper or banning the use of plastic straws, but also about putting a halt to the dairy and meat industries, and mass agriculture that accounts for almost 20% of pollution. It is also about making the people in charge of worldwide power, accountable for the electricity generation, heat production in thermal power plants and transportation, that account for approximately 73% of the world’s greenhouse gas emission.
It is now beyond urgent that all countries quit malpractices and change in favor of renewable energy and a real green economy. Equally crucial is fortifying our cities, towns, and lands to the increasingly common brutal climate impacts that, because of decades of delay, can no longer be avoided.