UN: Five million people internally displaced due to climate crisis

NEW DELHI: According to a report by the United Nations (UN), about five million people in India were internally displaced in 2021, as a result of climate change and disasters.

According to the annual Global Trends Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 100 million people were forced to escape their homes around the world last year owing to violence, human rights violations, the climate crisis, food insecurity, the war in Ukraine, and other emergencies ranging from Africa to Afghanistan.

According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), global disasters resulted in 23.7 million new internal displacements in 2021, in addition to those internally displaced due to conflict and violence. In 2021, China (6.0 million), Philippines (5.7 million), and India (4.9 million) had the most disaster-related displacements. The majority of disaster displacements were temporary.

Food scarcity, inflation, and the climate disaster, according to the UN agency, are all contributing to people’s misery. In 2021, the number of refugees reached 27.1 million. According to the data, the number of asylum seekers has increased by 11% to 4.6 million.