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News articles on Environmental Refugees

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Mongabay.com news articles on environmental refugees in blog format. Updated regularly.

Could carbon credits-for-forest conservation (REDD) reduce terrorism and global warming?
(12/20/2007) Schemes to offer carbon credits for reducing deforestation rates in developing countries could improve American security by providing stable income to disaffected rural groups, argues a new Council on Foreign Relations report on the impact of climate change on U.S. national security.


Ecomigration: global warming will increase environmental refugees
(11/28/2007) Climate change could spawn the largest-ever migration of environmental refugees due to intensifying droughts, storms and floods, according to a new study published in Human Ecology.


Islands to face water problems as sea levels rise, populations grow
(8/15/2007) Islands in the tropical Pacific may face water problems as sea levels rise and populations grow, warns research published in Vadose Zone Journal.


Floods affect 500 million people per year, will worsen with warming
(8/10/2007) Floods affect 500 million people a year and cause billions of dollars in damage, said U.N. officials Thursday.


Climate change fueled ancient wars in China
(7/10/2007) A new study ties past climate change to warfare in ancient China.


Does drought cause war?
(5/30/2007) A new study links drought to the outbreak of war, reports New Scientist Magazine.


Hundreds of millions at risk from rising sea levels
(3/27/2007) Hundreds of millions are at risk from cyclones and rising seas resulting from climate change reports a new study by researchers from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in the UK, the City University of New York, and Columbia University.


Looming desertification could spawn millions of environmental refugees
(12/14/2006) Africa may be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025 if soil degradation on the continent continues at its current pace, according to a water expert presenting at an upcoming United Nations University (UNU) conference on desertification in Algiers, Algeria. Karl Harmsen, Director of UNU's Ghana-based Institute for Natural Resources in Africa, says that should soil conditions continue to decline in Africa, nearly 75% of the continent could come to rely on some sort of food aid by 2025.


Global warming will threaten health through dirtier air, hotter days, and more natural disasters
(10/23/2006) Global warming will threaten human health through dirtier air, hotter days, and more natural disasters that will worsen water quality, stress emergency systems, and create environmental refugees, warns a public health physician.


Global water problem: one in three face water scarcity
(8/21/2006) One in three people is enduring one form or another of water scarcity, according to a new report from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). The assessment, carried out by 700 experts from around the world over the last five years, was released at World Water Week in Stockholm, a conference exploring the management of global water resources.


China Faces Water Crisis -- 300 million drink unsafe water
(12/30/2005) About 300 million Chinese drink unsafe water tainted by chemicals and other contaminants according to a new report from the Chinese government.


Rising ocean causes permanent evacuation of Pacific island community
(12/6/2005) A small community living in the Pacfic island chain of Vanuatu has become one of, if not the first, to be formally moved out of harms way as a result of climate change.


Rising seas and disappearing islands will produce environmental refugees
(11/24/2005) The Carteret Islands are almost invisible on a map of the South Pacific, but the horseshoe scattering of atolls is on the front-line of climate change, as rising sea levels and storm surges eat away at their existence.


Environmental refugees to top 50 million in 5 years
(10/11/2005) Amid predictions that by 2010 the world will need to cope with as many as 50 million people escaping the effects of creeping environmental deterioration, United Nations University experts say the international community urgently needs to define, recognize and extend support to this new category of 'refugee'.


Impact of Deforestation - Soil Erosion
(3/1/2005) The loss of trees, which anchor the soil with their roots, causes widespread erosion throughout the tropics. Only a minority of areas have good soils, which after clearing are quickly washed away by the heavy rains. Thus crop yields decline and the people must spend income to import foreign fertilizers or clear additional forest. Costa Rica loses about 860 million tons of valuable topsoil every year, while the Great Red Island, Madagascar, loses so much soil to erosion (400 tons/ha) that its rivers run blood-red, staining the surrounding Indian Ocean. Astronauts have remarked that it looks like Madagascar is bleeding to death, an apt description of a country with grave environmental degradation and an ever-declining agricultural economy that depends on its soils. The rate of increase for soil loss after forest clearing is astonishing; a study in Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire) found that forested slope areas lost 0.03 tons of soil per year per hectare; cultivated slopes annually lost 90 tons per hectare, while bare slopes lost 138 tons per hectare.



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