Monday, October 16, 2017

A world on the move

 More people have been forced to flee their homes than at any time since the Second World War due to increased conflict and political instability, hunger, poverty, and an increase in extreme weather events linked to climate change. Every year, unwanted migration of millions of people fleeing hunger, poverty and conflict is transforming the international development agenda for the years to come. Deaths due to hunger or to abandoning one's land have now become everyday news, and there is the danger that this will lead to indifference. 244 million people, about half of whom are women, decided to migrate in 2015, hoping for a better future for their children. With climate change and widespread land degradation, environmental migration is on the rise. But the majority, about 763 million, move within their own countries rather than abroad.

Large movements of people today are presenting complex challenges, which call for global action, says on this the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), adding that many migrants arrive in developing countries, creating tensions where resources are already scarce.


Climate change migration is reaching crisis proportions, they wrote on 10 October, noting that over the last 18 months, some 20 countries have declared drought emergencies, with millions forced off their land.  For at least the last two years, more people have been forced from their homes by extreme weather events than by conflict.


Three-quarters of the extreme poor base their livelihoods on agriculture or other rural activities. According to Robert Glasser, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction and the head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reductionwhile it may not be the first time, for many, it could be the last time they turn their backs on the countryside and try to make a life in urban slums and informal settlements. He explained, "We need to set about the long-haul task of making the planet fit for purpose once more through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and, in the meantime, making it more resilient to disasters, limiting the damage already done.”


 The causes of growing human suffering have been clearly identified–conflict, political instability, hunger, poverty, and an increase in extreme weather events linked to climate change. Remedies have been also presented. All is needed is for decision-makers to listen… and implement. And that can only be achieved by the establishment of a global socialist society.

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