World Refugee Crisis to Worsen with Climate Change
A historic 52 million people are fleeing conflict worldwide, a trend that will intensify over the next two decades because of climate change, International Rescue Committee chief David Miliband said on Friday. "One of the drivers of displacement and potential conflict over the next 10 to 20 years will be climate (change) - resource scarcity," said Miliband, a former United Kingdom foreign minister. Miliband said there were 16 million refugees and 36 million people displaced in their own countries, typically by civil war. That is the largest number of people fleeing persecution since World War Two, he said during a Reuters Newsmaker event in New York. "Do I think the current level is a blip or a trend?" Miliband said.
The High Seas Are Like a Failed State: Ocean Rescue Commission
The health of the global ocean is in decline and an integrated rescue package needs to be applied over the next five years, according to The Global Ocean Commission, made up of former Heads of State, Government, ministers and prominent business leaders. The Commission has spent 18 months investigating the decline of the global ocean and developed a rescue package of eight proposals to restore and protect its natural capital and services. "Unless we turn the tide on ocean decline within five years, the international community should consider turning the high seas into an off-limits regeneration zone until its condition is restored," said José María Figueres, Co-chair of the Commission.
