Experts warn of looming climate change migration crisis
27 April 2008
A major event investigating the impact of climate change on mass migrationwill bring together key environment and population experts tomorrow, Tuesday29 April, to discuss how climate change will affect migration patterns andhow policy-makers should respond. The conference organised by the IPPR(Institute for Public Policy Research) will take place from 9:00am-6:30pm atThe British Library, 96 Euston Road, NW1 2DB.
Jean Lambert, Green MEP for London and a respected authority on migratoryflows and climate change, will be addressing the conference, along with theSecretary of State for the Environment, Hilary Benn, the Minister forForeign and Commonwealth Office, Kim Howells, and Lord Nicholas Stern,former Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank.
Other speakers will include Craig L Johnstone, the Deputy High Commissionerfor the UNHCR, Brunson McKinley, the Director General for InternationalOrganization for Migration, Professor Norman Myers, University of Oxford,Richard Black, Co-Director of the Sussex Centre for Migration Research andDr Rajendra K Pachauri, Chairman for the Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC).
Commenting before the conference, Jean Lambert MEP said:
"Recent research by the European Commission has found that although theimmediate effects of global warming will be most painfully felt by the poorin south Asia, the Middle East, central Asia, Africa and Latin America,Europe will not escape the consequences.
"One of the greatest impacts of climate change that we are going to see inthe near future will be widespread human displacement as changing weatherpatterns cause crops to fail and create food and water shortages. What isunknown is when and where these human crises will unfold and how best tocope with the resulting migration.
"There are already an estimated 25 million environmental refugees in theworld, but they are not recognised as such by the international communityand thus have no legal protection. Closing borders is not a long-termsolution. Countries that have the greatest responsibility for creatingclimate change also have a responsibility to deal with the casualties."
For more information about this event, please contact events@ippr.org orcall 020 7470 6100.
