Climate change is one of the greatest humanitarian challenges of our time. People are displaced and must be protected, NRC urges in a new report.
The report Climate Changed: People Displaced, explores who are affected by climate related displacement, and how they are assisted and protected, when displaced within the borders of their own country or across borders.
“In the case of cross-border displacement related to climate change, there is a protection gap”, said NRC Secretary General, Elisabeth Rasmusson, at the launch of the report in Oslo.
The report aims to raise awareness of displacement as one of the humanitarian impacts of climate change, as world leaders are gathered at the climate summit in Copenhagen.
“Adaptation to climate change is urgent in order to avert, or reduce, the worst humanitarian consequences of climate change”, said Rasmusson, “we must help the most vulnerable adapt to their changing reality”.
There is a need for a strong and binding global climate change agreement, which protects the poorest and most vulnerable, including those displaced, according to the new report.
“A political as well as a legally binding agreement must recognise displacement in the context of climate change”, Rasmusson concluded.
The report Climate Changed: People Displaced is published with support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.