Climate change could cause more than 140 million climate migrants: World Bank

20, Mar 2018 | CJP Team

According to a new World Bank report, more than 140 million living in three world regions will likely migrate within their own countries by 2050, the Guardian reported. The World Bank considered three regions, and found that sub-Saharan African could see 86 million internall displaced people in the years leading up to 2050. This figure was 40 million in South Asia, and 17 million in Latin America. The mass migrations could result in widespread political, economic and social disruptions, but the World Bank said it was still possible to take steps to mitigate the issue. John Roome, a senior director for climate change at the World Bank outlined that governments should speed up cutting greenhouse gas emissions, include climate migration in their national development plans, and expand investment in analysis and data to be employed for development planning. The current expected figure, 140 million, was based on existing trends, but if steps are taken it could be lower. For example, if education and infrastructure were boosted towards making economic development more inclusive, internal migration could be decreased to 65 million to 105 million, the report said. If robust steps are taken to cut emissions, the number could decrease the migration to 30 million to 70 million.