Mass migrations have been ongoing throughout history going back to the time when Homo sapiens and Neanderthals spread out from Africa to the rest of the world. The quest of seeking new opportunities or the need to escape threats have long served as pull and push factors for instigating the movement of people from one place to another. Today, it is the movement of people across national borders, as economic migrants or refugees, which evokes the most attention. Multitudes of people move from one part of their own country to another, either to make a better life for themselves, or to escape natural or manmade disasters. Yet, internal migration does not get the attention that it deserves.
Internal displacement refers to the phenomenon of people being compelled to move from their homes under duress. While such displacements are mostly ignored, they are becoming a growing problem which merits more attention.
The number of internally displaced people hit the highest level on record this past year according to the Norwegian Refugee Council, which does research on internal displacements around the world. There were an estimated 55 million people who are displaced within the borders of their own countries according to latest estimates. The number of displaced people within their own country is now twice as much as forced out of their country as refugees.
Conflict remains the biggest reason which causes people to flee their homes. Of the total 55 million internally displaced people, 48 million people became displaced due to conflict and violence. However, the remaining million had been displaced due to climate-related disasters including droughts, intense storms, and flooding. This spike in climate-related displacements is understandable given that 2020 was the warmest year on record. The fear that climate was going to cause an increasing number of people to leave their homes has now become a vivid reality.
It is worth highlighting here that the estimated number of climate-related displacements is probably being significantly underestimated due to incomplete data. Moreover, it is also worth noting that the internal displacement noted during 2020 occurred against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, when movement restrictions were in full force. The possibility of climate induced migrations is thus set to rise in coming years.
Causes of internal displacement include many factors. Yet, many of these are also interrelated. E.g., climate-related stresses can lead to political instability as well as spark conflict between different groups of people trying to secure access to dwindling natural resources. In places where conflicts and natural disasters converge, displaced people find themselves being uprooted more than once and many continue to linger in limbo for long periods of time, especially due to ineffective measures being put in place to address their plight.
Countries with the highest number of people displaced by conflict and violence in 2020 were Syria, DRC, and Colombia. On the other hand, countries with the largest amount of disaster-driven internal displacements were Afghanistan, followed by India, and Pakistan.
South Asia accounted for a large proportion of the world’s new disaster-related displacements this past year. Cyclone Amphan alone triggered major evacuations and displacements across Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Myanmar.
Pakistan is no stranger to internal displacements given the large number of people which have experienced this phenomenon due to lingering conflict in the northern areas as well as due to the 2010 floods, when one-fifth of the country was submerged, leading many poor people to abandon their homes. However, relevant authorities in the country are still not able to cope with the growing number of internally displaced people, many of whom are left to fend for themselves.
Given that Pakistan is one of the hotspots for climate change, the government needs to be better prepared to deal with climate fueled internal displacements, as this problem will continue to worsen in the years to come.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 16th, 2021.
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