Climate Change and Forced Migration: Canada's Role (Revised 1 February 2013)

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In January 2013, CNN Travel listed a trip to the Maldives as one of five urgent experiences for 2013. Reports that rising sea levels are exceeding our worst expectations may mean that this low-lying nation of islands in the Indian Ocean will soon be uninhabitable, displacing its 400,000 citizens decades ahead of schedule. For more than 25 years, governments have been aware that climate change may lead to the forced migration of millions of people. Now, with the effects of climate change becoming increasingly apparent in some parts of the world, the fear of mass migration may escalate within the international community. Some population displacement will come directly as a result of rising sea levels or extreme weather events that leave some regions uninhabitable. However, much of the displacement will be caused indirectly, as a result of gradual environmental degradation leading to shortages in food, fresh water and energy. Such shortages may in turn give rise to armed conflict and violence. According to a U.S. national security analysis organization, Climate change acts as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world. The least developed states in Africa, Asia and Latin America, as well as small, low-lying island states, are the most likely to produce climate migrants.