10% of the rise in global migration due to water crisis: Report

WASHINGTON DC: The World Bank released a new report on global assessment of the impact of water on migration. The report titled, ‘Ebb and Flow’ describes how climate change is accelerating the emergence of global water crisis and rainfall variability, which is expected to be one of the contributing forces in migration. The assessment anticipates that the world’s cities that receive migrants and are home to 55 per cent of the global population are expected to soon face a rising number of “day-zero” events, when taps run dry.

The report has been prepared by analysing the largest data set on internal migration ever assembled, which covers nearly half a billion people from 189 population censuses in 64 countries. Several national and global data sets have also been combined for the first time. The report noted that water is already one of the main vulnerabilities faced by people living in the Middle-East and North Africa, where 60 per cent of the population already lives in water-stressed areas. It found water deficits linked to 10 per cent of the increase in total migration within countries between 1970 and 2000.

By the end of this century, the report projected worsening droughts to affect around 700 million people across the globe. Climate shocks will have a disproportionate impact on the developing world, where over 85 per cent of the people affected will be living in low- or middle-income countries. It also found that residents of poor countries are four times less likely to move than residents of wealthier countries.

Mari Pangestu, Managing Director for Development Policy and Partnerships, World Bank, said that as the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic continues, climate change is fueling water challenges around the world, which is expected to hit developing countries hardest. The report mentioned the recent events of acute water shortages seen in São Paolo, Brazil; Cape Town, South Africa; Basra, Iraq; and Chennai, India. It said that along with these cities, dozens of smaller cities contend with similar events, but fail to make international headlines, and events such as these underline the need to preserve and sustainably manage water resources. Policies and infrastructure to make urban spaces water resilient are expensive, but a drought is definitely more costly. Therefore, it urged policymakers around to world to make trade-offs between short-term, uncoordinated measures to respond to immediate water needs, and long-term measures needed to address structural water issues.