April 26, 2021

Andrew Campbell 

On embracing April 22's Earth Day, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a UN agency mandated to help and safeguard worldwide refugees, released a report on climate change and its impact on hundreds of millions of people's living.

The UNHCR publication, a new data visualization entitled “Displaced on the frontlines of the climate emergency”, indicated disasters attributed to climate change have worsened hunger and poverty in people’s living. Meanwhile, the climate change crisis obstructed access to natural resources and caused stoking instability and violence within communities. According to the UNHCR data, weather emergencies of recurring floods and droughts have displaced annually more than 21.5 million refugees who come from the most vulnerable countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Mozambique, since 2010.

In the UNHCR report, Afghanistan in particular was noted as one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. As of mid-2020, reportedly more than 2.6 million refugees were displaced within Afghanistan. In the first quarter of 2021, the UNHCR indicated 16.9 million Afghans, nearly half of the country’s population, suffered food deprivation, including 5.5 million in emergency levels.

As Commissioner of the UNHCR Filippo Grandi pointed out in the report about important lessons learned from COVID, calling for the global response to the more complex threat posed by climate change. Commissioner Grandi discounted the option of waiting for a weather disaster to strike, and furthermore, strongly urged to prepare measures right away to mitigate future protection and avoid climate-caused displacement.

Photo:webshot.