Climate migration predicted to rise in India amid extreme weather
Al JazeeraStudy says droughts, floods and heatwaves are fuelling climate migration as nation’s poorest are forced to abandon their homes. A rise in extreme weather events in India – from droughts and floods to heatwaves and hailstorms – is fuelling climate migration as the nation’s poorest are forced to abandon their homes, land and livelihoods, researchers say. “We cannot afford to pretend this isn’t happening.” “Droughts, rising sea levels and flooding are heaping extra pressure onto people who are already struggling to get by, forcing them from their homes in order to survive.” The Global Climate Risk Index 2021, an annual ranking from research group Germanwatch, puts India among the top 10 countries most affected by climate change. The loss and damage they suffer is very high and they migrate because they have reached the stage of hopelessness.” India’s first climate change assessment report, published in 2020, projected that temperatures would rise 4.4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century in a “business as usual” scenario. Making migration safe for people forced to move by climate pressures should involve “anticipatory wage employment” and portability of social protection entitlements, the IIED said.