PRI: U.N. compact recognizes climate change as driver of migration for first time
“…A World Bank report released this spring estimated climate change could drive more than 140 million people to migrate internally within Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and South Asia alone by midcentury. The U.N. estimates a similar number might be displaced globally just by desertification by 2045. And it’s already happening: Years with higher temperatures are already causing spikes in asylum applications to European Union countries, recent research has found. But for the first time this week, the international community is taking a step toward recognizing climate migrants. On Monday and Tuesday, leaders from 164 countries formally adopted the U.N. Global Compact for Migration at a meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco…” (Beeler, 12/11).