Month: July 2023

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“A Threat-Multiplier”: EU Warns of Climate Crisis-Fuelled Conflict and Migration 

11 June 2023 – by Cosmo Sanderson

The European Commission has warned its member states to brace for the “spill-over effects” of the climate crisis, setting out a new raft of proposals for dealing with the increased conflict and migration it will cause. 

Rising sea levels, rising temperatures and extreme weather events all “threaten the health and well-being of humanity,” said the Commission in its joint communication last month with the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. 

The Commission and Borrell set out around 30 actions they believe should be taken to prepare member states for the fallout of the climate crisis. These include setting up a data and analysis hub on climate and environment security and launching training platforms at a national and EU level. 

The proposals will strengthen climate-informed planning, they argue, as well as enhancing the climate adaptation and mitigation measures of member states’ security and defence forces. 

The Commission and Borrell have now invited the European Parliament and the European Council to support the “new outlook on the climate and security nexus.”

The paper, published in June, notes that of the 20 countries that are the “most vulnerable and least prepared” for climate change, 12 were in conflict in 2020.

Instability caused by the climate and lack of resources can be actively used by “armed groups and organised crime networks, corrupt or authoritarian regimes,” says the paper. 

Since 2008, an estimated 21.5 million people have been forcibly displaced by weather-related events such as floods and heatwaves every year. These numbers are expected to increase, says the paper, “putting stress” on urban centres where demand for housing, food and jobs may rise – contributing to the “increasing social impacts of climate change.”

Sea-level rise, which UN secretary general António Guterres recently warned could lead to migration on a “biblical” scale, is also labelled a security risk due to the “scale of potential displacement.” 

The Commission and Borrell say it is therefore “critically important to continue investing in both climate adaptation and mitigation and in protecting and restoring the environment.”

However, while much is being done in this regard, they say states should prepare themselves for “increased spill-over effects on the European Union.”

The UN special rapporteur on human rights in the context of global warming recently called out the “shocking” number of migrant deaths that take place in Europe and the Mediterranean. He called on countries to help end this by handing humanitarian visas to those displaced by the climate crisis.  

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Climate Migrants Must Get Visas to Stop “Shocking” Number of Deaths in EU, Says UN Expert

11 July 2023 – by Cosmo Sanderson

In the wake of the latest catastrophic sinking of a migrant boat in the Mediterranean, a UN expert has called on countries to stop the “shocking” number of migrant deaths in Europe by providing humanitarian visas to those displaced by the climate crisis.  

The international community “must realise its responsibility” to protect people displaced by global warming, says Ian Fry, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the context of climate change.

Fry last month issued a report calling on the UN’s Human Rights Council to submit a resolution to the UN General Assembly, urging it to develop a protocol under a 1951 refugee convention to bolster protections for people affected by the climate crisis. 

Until then, he urged all nations to pass laws providing “humanitarian visas” to people displaced by the climate crisis as an “interim measure.”

“The effects of climate change are becoming more severe, and the number of people displaced across international borders is rapidly increasing,” says Fry, a dual national of Tuvalu and Australia who the UN last year appointed as its first special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change.

In 2020 alone, 30.7 million people were displaced due to weather-related events, says Fry in his report. Droughts, such as that currently gripping the Horn of Africa, which has resulted in the displacement of over two million people, were said to be the “main factor.”

People displaced by climate change face multiple human rights violations including of their rights to “food, water, sanitation, housing, health, education and, for some, their right to life,” says Fry. “We must take immediate steps to give legal protection to these people.”

Among the most recent to pay the ultimate price for trying to seek a better life in Europe were around 600 people who are either confirmed or presumed dead after their overcrowded fishing vessel sank off the coast of Greece in June. 

Fry says it is “shocking” to note that, of an estimated 50,000 migrants to have lost their lives or gone missing crossing land and sea borders between 2014 to 2022, “more than half of those deaths occurred on routes to and within Europe, including in the Mediterranean Sea.”

One recent study found that the climate crisis could within decades push billions of people into living in “unprecedented” heat unsuitable for human survival, acting as a massive catalyst for further displacement. UN secretary general António Guterres recently warned that sea level rise alone could lead to migration on a “biblical” scale.

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World Sees Hottest Day on Record Twice in One Week

6 July 2023 – by Cosmo Sanderson

Earth experienced its warmest average temperature since records began on Tuesday, hot on the heels of the 17C mark being broken for the first time on Monday. 

The new record set on Tuesday saw the average global temperature reach 17.18C (62.9F). That level of heat remained steady on Wednesday. 

The world had only breached the 17C mark for the first time on Monday, when the global average hit 17.01C (62.62F). The previous record was 16.92C (62.46F), set in August 2016. 

That means that the three hottest days globally since instrumental recordings began at the end of the 19th century have all been this week. They are believed to be the hottest for at least 125,000 years, when there was an unusually warm period between two ice ages.

The data, a combination of surface, air balloon and satellite readings, was compiled by the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction. Scientists at the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute analysed the readings to determine the global average.

The thick black line represents temperatures recorded in 2023 and the orange line temperatures in 2022. The black dotted line shows average temperatures from 1979 to 2000. Annual temperatures from 1979 to 2021 appear in light grey (Source: Climate Change Institute, The University of Maine)

Myles Allen, a professor of geosystem science at Oxford University, told the Washington Post that the record-breaking week was due to a “triple whammy” of factors. 

One of these is human-driven global warming, which has already pushed temperatures to 1.25C (2.25F) above the pre-industrial average.

Another is the return of El Niño, a global weather phenomenon that sees the atmosphere trap more heat than usual. Scientists recently declared that El Niño has returned for the first time in four years. 

These factors have combined with natural variation in the annual temperature cycle, which sees the hottest average global temperatures around the end of July. Scientists therefore predict there will likely be hotter days still in the coming weeks. 

The new records come as various countries and regions have experienced sweltering heat. North Africa has seen temperatures nearing an eye-watering 50C, while China has been suffering heatwave conditions of over 35C. 

A recent Mediterranean heatwave was chalked up to global warming. A heat dome in the southern US has killed at least a dozen people, while the UK saw its hottest June on record. 

A study published in May found that the climate crisis could within decades push billions of people into living in “unprecedented” heat unsuitable for human survival. The heat will also accelerate the melting of ice caps and the resulting rise in sea levels, which United Nations secretary general António Guterres recently warned could lead to migration on a “biblical” scale.