Asia, Pacific governments warned of increasing climate-induced migrations
By ANIMonday, February 7, 2011
MANILA - Governments in Asia and the Pacific should be prepared to deal with increased migrations caused because of climatic change in the coming years, a forthcoming report of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said.
The Xinhua news agency quoted the report titled ‘Climate Change and Migration in Asia and the Pacific’ as saying that adverse climatic conditions like typhoons, cyclones, floods and droughts are forcing a huge number of people to migrate.
The report said that extreme weather in Malaysia, Pakistan, China, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka had led to temporary or permanent dislocation of millions of people in 2010, and added that this process would aggravate a few decades down the line.
“No international cooperation mechanism has been set up to manage these migration flows, and protection and assistance schemes remain inadequate, poorly coordinated, and scattered. National governments and the international community must urgently address this issue in a proactive manner,” the report said.
According to Bart W. Edes, Director of ADB’s Poverty Reduction, Gender, and Social Development Division, the climate-induced migration will affect poor and vulnerable people more than others.
“In many places, those least capable of coping with severe weather and environmental degradation will be compelled to move with few assets to an uncertain future. Those who stay in their communities will struggle to maintain livelihoods in risk-prone settings at the mercy of nature’s whims,” he added. (ANI)
