Migration as a climate adaptation strategy

The report finds that migration risk is highly responsive to greenhouse gas reduction measures; in other words, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report in August made clear, every fraction of a degree of warming that can be prevented will make an enormous difference in how global societies and economies experience climate change. In the most ambitious climate action scenario, the migration projection in 2050 is 80% lower, with just 44 million people across the six regions displaced.

In any case, internal migration need not be a bad thing per se, if it helps people to avoid harmful climate impacts. People move around anyway, and urbanization has been growing for decades. The challenge, highlighted by the report, is to ensure that destination locations are ready, with safe, affordable housing, employment opportunities, and sufficient public services for a growing population.

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