In 2020, one of the hottest years on record, more than 40 million new internal migrations took place across 149 countries and territories. Of these, more than 30 million were caused by extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods and wildfires. This means that phenomena linked to climate change caused three times as many migrations as conflicts.

2020 was a year of grim records

The news was revealed by the Norwegian refugee council's internal displacement monitoring centre (Idmc), which warns that these figures are record-breaking, yet in line with the trend observed over the past decade. At the end of last year, the total number of internally displaced people (IDPs) stood at 55 million, five more than in 2019. Of these, at least 7 million were climate migrants, though according to the Idmc the figure would be considerably higher.

Many climate migrants are children

20 million were children under 15, while 2.6 million were over 65. The nations with the highest number of internally displaced people due to conflicts were Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Colombia, whereas Afghanistan, India and Pakistan recorded the greatest number of climate migrants. The proportion of people forced to leave their homes while remaining within their own country was twice that of refugees accepted across borders.

In the background, the Covid-19 pandemic

"It is particularly alarming that similar figures were recorded in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, a period in which gathering data was more difficult due to restrictions and, at the same time, fewer people sought assistance in emergency shelters for fear of being infected," commented Alexandra Bilak, director of the Idmc.

"This crisis is driven by many interconnected factors, including climate and environmental change. In a world made more fragile by disease, strong political will and investment in locally led solutions are more important than ever."

Mitigating global warming to protect peoples

The secretary general of the Norwegian refugee council, Jan Egeland, added that "it is staggering to think that, every second of last year, a human being was forced to leave their home. We are failing to protect the most vulnerable from conflicts and environmental disasters."

We must remember that committing to mitigating the effects of the climate crisis means safeguarding children and all those living in the most at-risk areas, guaranteeing them a future. Polluting less means saving lives.