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24 June 2009
Lagos — A report released at the just-concluded climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany, says global warming will submerge island states, destroy farmlands and force millions of people into migration by 2050.
A report in New York on Monday also stated that, "worsening tropical storms, desert droughts and rising sea levels will displace 200 million people by 2050."
The report entitled: "In Search of Shelter: Mapping the Effects of Climate Change on Human Migration and Displacement", was authored by UN
University, CARE International and Columbia University in New York city. The authors warned that mass migration could become "a dangerous new mega-trend."
They said countries should prepare strategies to handle the anticipated migration and perhaps, prevent it by encouraging less dependence on weather, "for example by dispensing irrigation technologies in drought regions".
"We need new thought models and practical ideas to reduce the threats climate change poses to human health and security," NAN quotes the study's main author Koko Warner as saying.
"Some 40 island states could disappear if sea levels rise by 6 feet," it said. The Maldives are already taking security measures by planning fortifications and raising buildings," it added.
The report noted that rising sea levels would also threaten global agricultural resources. "Water will become scarcer in many regions across the globe, and nations are expected to seize and ration national resources.
"In drought regions, civil unrest or even wars could be the result," it said. The report quoted some experts as saying the war in Sudan's Darfur region was "sparked in part by water scarcity and conflicts over grazing lands."
NAN recalls that negotiators from 183 nations had last week in Boon held talks towards a new UN treaty to curb global warming.
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