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Environmental Refugee
I.
II.
Who is coming to dinner?
-Population Displacement
Do we have enough
chairs?
- Ecological
Anthropology Issues
III. Who is responsible?
-Host versus Guest
Who is coming to dinner?
People who have been forced to leave their
traditional habitat, temporarily or
permanently, because of a marked
environmental disruption (natural and/or
triggered by people) that jeopardized their
existence and/or seriously affected the quality
of their life.
(1985 Dr. Essam El-Hinnawi: Professor of National Research Centre of Cairo)
2011 Climate Change Vulnerability Index
Maplecroft – British Environmental Risk Analysis Firm
Top 10 Countries at
Extreme Risk:
1. Bangladesh
2. India
3. Madagascar
4. Nepal
5. Mozambique
6. Philippines
7. Haiti
8. Afghanistan
9. Zimbabwe
10.Myanmar
Global
World Bank 2008
Drought
Flood
Storm
Coastal 1m
Malawi
Bangladesh
Philippines
All low-lying Island states Sudan
Ethiopia
China
Bangladesh
Vietnam
Senegal
India
Madagascar
Egypt
Zimbabwe
India
Cambodia
Vietnam
Tunisia
Mozambique
Mozambique
Moldova
Indonesia
Niger
Laos
Mongolia
Mauritania
Morocco
Mauritania
Pakistan
Haiti
China
Niger
Eritrea
Sri Lanka
Samoa
Mexico
India
Sudan
Thailand
Tonga
Myanmar
Malawi
Chad
Vietnam
China
Bangladesh
Algeria
Kenya
Benin
Honduras
Senegal
Ethiopia
Iran
Rwanda
Fiji
Libya
Pakistan
Zimbabwe
Six Climate Threats, and the 12 Countries Most at Risk
Low Income
Agriculture
Mid
dle
Inco
me
Mali
Zambia
Global Numbers of Displacement
2001 – 97% of 170 million affected by climate disasters
(“Are environmental refugees refused?.” Study of Tribes and Tribal,
2007)
2012 – 32 million forced to flee due to climate events
(Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, Norwegian Refugee
Council, 2013)
2050 – Drought: 50 million Sea Level Rise: 162 million
Desertification: 900 million
(“Environmental exodus: an emergent crisis in global arena.”
Washington DC Climate Institute, 1995)
+900 Million
U.S. Cities Going Under
American Artist Nickolay Lamm
Miami New Orleans Boston San Francisco
Our Local Community
Marshall Islands
(69,747 July 2013 est.)
https://www.cia.gov/library
/publications/the-worldfactbook/.../rm.html
February 2011
www.zeeburgnieuws.nl
Do We Have Enough Chairs?
Core Concerns with Population Displacement
Global:
Food
Property
Status
Situation
National/Local:
Housing
Employment
Education
Health care
“However, no matter where
calamities take place and
from what sort of
occurrence, disaster
reaction and recovery
among all people
experiencing them bear
certain striking similarities.”
(The Angry Earth, 1999, p. 7)
Ecological Anthropology Issues with
Population Displacement
2 Directional
• Political: Loss of statehood, government
shortcomings, political identity, instability
• Social: Religion, ethnic strife, language, culture
• Economic: Developing vs Industrial, landlessness,
unemployment, population pressures, disease, food
Political Issues
Ethiopia famine from drought and crop failure
Social Issues
www.erces.com
Economic Issue
The top 10 most competitive
economies in the world
Number of victims of natural
disasters per 100,000
World Economic Forum’s Global
competitivenss Report 2012-2013
Remote sensing for natural disasters: Facts
and figures 2009
Who is Responsible?
• UN Security Council is the institution that
deals with climate policy. Mass migration
leading to major conflicts
• Five permanent members are the largest
emitters of greenhouse gases: China, France,
Russia, United Kingdom, United States.
• UNHCR rejects the term climate refugee or
environmental refugees.
• YOU?
Climate change is not ‘a
problem’ waiting for ‘a
solution,’ rather, it is an
environmental, cultural
and political
phenomenon which is
re-shaping the way we
think about ourselves,
our societies and
humanity’s place on
Earth.
Hulme, M. (2009). Why we disagree about
climate change. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press