What comes to mind when you hear the word “refugee?” Most people probably think of war refugees, those who are forced to leave their homes due to conflict and move to other regions or countries. However, according to the report “GRID 2023” published by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC), in 2022, there were more “climate refugees” than war refugees. Climate refugees are individuals who have been forced to leave their homes temporarily or permanently because their living conditions have become uninhabitable due to sudden climate change. In 2022, the total number of refugees was 71.1 million, with 32.6 million being climate refugees–more than 28.3 million war refugees–making up 53% of the total refugee population.

There are two main types of climate refugees: those displaced by sudden natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, or wildfires and those forced to move due to gradual, long-term climate changes. Global warming causes sea levels to rise, flooding coastal villages. It also leads to droughts and desertification, depleting water and food supplies and forcing people to relocate.

A representative example of the climate refugee crisis is the island country of Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean. Global warming and rising sea levels have left Tuvalu’s islands less than 4.5 meters above sea level. Two islands have already been submerged. Experts predict that if the sea level continues to rise at the current rate, the remaining islands will be completely underwater by the 2060s. Now, residents of Tuvalu are being forced to migrate to New Zealand. Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is also sinking rapidly due to rising sea levels and land subsidence. As a result, the Indonesian government has decided to relocate the capital. Likewise, in Bangladesh, a low-lying country, over 15 million people are at risk of being displaced as climate refugees due to the persistent rise in sea levels.

Also, La Niña has caused sea temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean to drop by more than 0.5 degrees from the normal level. It has resulted in severe floods in Pakistan, Nigeria, and Brazil, displacing approximately 19.2 million people. In contrast, some regions receive very little rain, even during the monsoon season. In northeastern Africa, including Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya, there is a serious drought, the worst in 40 years, forcing 2.2 million people to move to other countries.

The climate refugee problem shows the unequal distribution of the climate crisis’s impacts. While the primary cause of the climate crisis is the large-scale carbon emissions from advanced countries, developing and underdeveloped countries suffer the most. These countries have limited resources to cope with the impacts of climate change, and with insufficient government support, they are more likely to experience a sharp increase in climate refugees.

Experts stress the need for an international cooperation framework to address the climate refugee crisis. António Vitorino, former Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said “We are witnessing an unprecedented number of people losing their homes and jobs due to natural disasters. It is now more important than ever for the international community to strengthen its response to the climate crisis and provide the necessary support for refugees to resettle safely.”