Out of House & Home: Rise in Climate-Fuelled Displacement

"Today, you are seven times more likely to be internally displaced by cyclones, floods and wildfires than by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and three times more likely than by conflict."

Climate, and more specifically weather-related, disasters that force people to leave their homes have increased dramatically over the past few years and are the number one cause of internal displacement globally. Newly published analysis of Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre data by Oxfam shows that in 2008, there were 201 weather-related climate disasters which forced people to seek refuge within the borders of their country. This level remained reasonably stable through 2012 before jumping significantly in 2013 to 607 such disasters. After tailing off again to 2016's 527, a rapid rise took place, with 2018 seeing a massive 1,518 cases.

In its report, Oxfam notes: "While no one is immune, it is overwhelmingly poor countries that are most at risk. Eighty percent of those displaced in the last decade live in Asia – home to over a third of the world’s poorest people. On fighting this growing trend Oxfam calls for "more urgent and ambitious emissions reductions to minimize the impact of the crisis on people’s lives".