Andrew Dunn of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) emphasises in this treatise that the Cross River gorilla, which now seems tolerated by enlightened locals, has survived by learning to avoid humans and rarely ventures out of its forest home, except maybe when a young male is in search of a mate
Camera trap photo of a silverback Cross River gorilla in Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary
Did you know that there are four different types of gorilla known from Africa and the rarest of them all lives in Nigeria? The Cross River gorilla is restricted to the mountains of Cross River State and adjacent areas of Cameroon.
Gorillas in Nigeria only occur at three different sites: the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, the Mbe Mountains and the Okwangwo Division of Cross River National Park. After decades of hunting and habitat loss, only 100 Cross River gorillas survive in Nigeria and a further 200 in Cameroon.
They are rarely seen, although they are sometimes photographed by researchers using camera traps. Gorillas have survived by avoiding humans and by living on the steepest most inaccessible mountain slopes. Imagine our surprise therefore when a large male gorilla was recently seen close to the villages of Ofambe and Okiro in Obudu LGA, at least 10kms outside of Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary and far from any forest. Gorillas normally live in small groups composed of a large dominant male known as a silverback together with three to four females and their young.
When these young gorillas mature, they leave to join another gorilla group. Young male gorillas are known as blackbacks and their presence is not usually tolerated by the dominant silverback. Each blackback gorilla must roam the forest in search of a mate. These wanderings are very important for the long-term survival of the species, allowing for the exchange of genes between groups – provided he is successful in finding a wife!
“Roaming blackbacks do not represent a threat to humans, but may come close to villages as they attempt to cross between one forest patch to another. In the past these gorillas may have been killed, representing a significant loss to such a small population,” said Dr Richard Bergl of the North Carolina Zoo.
However, thanks to increased awareness, and to enlightened village chiefs in Ofambe (Chief Julius Ochui) and Okiro (Chief Augustine Bitte), the presence of this gorilla so close to the village has so far been tolerated by the community.
Cross River Gorilla expert, Dr. Inaoyom Imong of the Wildlife Conservation Society in Calabar, explained: “As long as the gorilla is left alone it will likely find its way back to the forest, and hopefully a wife.”
A positive outcome for conservation and the future of Nigeria’s biological heritage!
The government of South Sudan – represented at the ongoing 3rd UN Environment Assembly by its Ministry of Environment – has taken up a campaign by a German civil society group for a clean-up of oil pollution of the country’s water.
A South Sudanese boy drinking polluted water
Spearheaded by Sign of Hope, the plea was made by Joseph Bartel, the Permanent Secretary at the Environment Ministry, who lamented that the country is facing an environmental disaster caused by oil pollution.
“Help us clean up this oil-caused environmental disaster,” Bartel pleaded.
Klaus Stieglitz, human rights expert and Deputy Chairperson of Sign of Hope, the Germany-based NGO, said: “For the last nine years, Sign of Hope and the scientists with whom it works have been persistently alerting the world to this enormous and growing crime against human rights and the environment. The government of South Sudan and its corporate allies have repeatedly denied the existence of this ravaging of people’s lives and livelihoods.
“That is why we especially welcome the government’s admission of there being a problem. We now look forward to the great clean-up. The first step: a full-scale investigation of South Sudan’s oil fields’ environments and environs.
“Ringing words now have to be followed by actions capable of helping the 180,000 victims of oil-caused water pollution. It is time to put an end to this human-made crisis.”
The UN Environment Assembly, the world’s foremost decision-making body in environmental matters, is being held in Nairobi. It has “#BeatPollution” as its slogan.
In a response to the recent flooding in Benue, Kogi, Lagos, and Niger states in Nigeria and hurricanes in the US and Caribbean, John Baaki Terzungwe of the Women Environmental Programme (WEP) expresses his feelings in this vivid, emotional poem
A view of the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Sint Maarten Dutch part of Saint Martin island in the Caribbean, Sept. 6, 2017.
Millions of years ago you enjoyed absolute peace
Because no one gave you a reason to wail
No one even gave you a reason to frown
You were ever radiant and glowing
I was not there when you came to being
But our ancestors told us your story
How gentle, accommodating and reliable you were
You were reliable and predictable even in your busy schedules
Even as you were always journeying round about thyself through a void every 24 hours
And at the same time journeying round a big pot of hot fire every 365 days.
Any time you promised us water, you gave. Anytime you promised us warm breeze, we got. You never promised and failed. We knew exactly when to expect your gifts of water, flowers, crickets, milk, honey, warm and cold breeze etc. You never gave us anything in excess or in deficit.
But suddenly you have changed!
You are no longer calm, accommodating and reliable as you once were
You no longer bless us with gifts that we expect.
I swear you are no longer predictable.
Nowadays, anytime we expect your gift of milk and honey,
You unleash water in excess to carry away our barns
Bringing on us hunger and starvation and driving us away from our abodes
Yes we need water, but not in excess to drown us
We need drinking water, not drowning water
See what you have caused to Benue, see what you have caused to Kogi, see what you have caused to Niger, see what you have caused to Lagos, see what you have caused to Texas
Have you forgotten that you did this to Benue in 2012?
Have you also forgotten that for a decade you have unleashed excess water everywhere?
The Kingdom of Donald Trump has become used to your water even before his reign
You now bring excess water by different names
Katrina and Harvey are some of the excess water you have brought
Let me not lament too much as you may have your reasons for becoming wicked
Our ancestors told us that you needed to be treated with care to remain a good mother
They told us that if we give you any reason to wail, your tears will become a curse
They told us that to make you remain a good mother
We should always fan you cool to sustain your journey around the hot pot of fire
But we have stopped fanning you to keep you cool long time ago
The heat from the pot of fire around which you journey has made you to wail
We have failed in our responsibility to keep you cool hence your cry that has become a curse
Despite several decisions the gods have made to keep fanning
You continue to feel hot like someone standing close to where Songo has spit fire.
We are not fanning you as we should
Because the gods of our lands do not give us the fans.
The gods of our land have joined the gods of the white man for 22 times to hold meetings about your welfare
This year too, the gods of our land we join the gods of the white man in Germany
To see how we can wipe your tears.
Why we don’t blame you for shedding tears
We blame the gods who knoweth all but fail to remove us from the path of your tears.
We hope that the gods will do more by offering sacrifices to take away your curse on us
And help us to wipe your tears
And you will again become the good mother you once were.
The UN Environment Assembly has acknowledged the importance of partnership in driving development actions across the globe.
Jochen Flasbarth, Head of German Delegation and State Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety of Germany. Photo credit: EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
To this end development stakeholders have decided to walk the talk against pollution with a joint $35 million financial support to the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE). The financial support came from European Union, Finland, Germany, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Sweden and Switzerland.
The partnership of the five UN agencies is geared at supporting countries in greening their economies and tackling environmental challenges, while promoting better jobs and stable economic growth, according to a statement by the UN Environment.
The announcement came at the third UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, attended by over 4,000 heads of state, ministers, business leaders, UN officials and civil society representatives to drive efforts towards a sustainable and pollution free future.
The success of the drive the leaders however noted, hinges on a global alliance of the different development stakeholders, working together for the common good.
“In order to move towards a sustainable and pollution-free future, we need a broad alliance of all stakeholders, one that transcends the traditional divides between industry and environmentalists,” said Jochen Flasbarth, Head of German Delegation and State Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety of Germany.
Delegates echoed their resolve to transform economies into a vehicle for sustainable development through solid alliances.
The EU is committed to cooperating with developing countries, but also to take action domestically, as shown by the ongoing implementation of the circular economy action plan,” said Mr. Daniel Calleja, Director-General for the Environment, European Commission.
The release notes that more than 90 countries have so far benefited from PAGE’s policy reforms at global and national level especially in capacity building.
Accordingly PAGE is supporting policy reforms on sustainable development and a pollution-free planet calling on leaders to increasingly champion growth that reduces and reliance on finite resources.
“As this partnership grows and helps more nations green their economies, we will see leaders increasingly champion sustainable growth that reduces emissions and reliance on finite resources,” said Erik Solheim, Executive Director of UN Environment.
The funding he said will help expand other works that have been done so far. “This new funding will help expand the great work that has been done so far, and move us closer to a pollution-free planet.”
Report from UNEP says environmental degradation overall causes nearly one in four of all deaths worldwide, or 12.6 million people a year, and the destruction of key ecosystems. The ongoing assembly is expected to to examine over a dozen resolutions on the table, including new approaches to tackling air pollution which claims 6.5 million lives annually.
“Making our planet free of pollution could be a new engine of growth, a net generator of green jobs, a new investment opportunity for the finance sector, and a vital strategy for addressing persistent poverty,” said Asad Naqvi, Head of the PAGE Secretariat.
The UN Environment General Assembly accordingly is the world’s highest level environment forum, attended by heads of state, environment ministers, CEO’s of multi-national companies, astronauts, NASA scientists, NGOs, environment ectvisits and other stakeholders to discuss and make global commitments to environmental protection.
It also provides the opportunity to track the latest development in environmental policy and actions by the different actors and exchange on experience.
A wildfire driven by California’s dry, seasonal Santa Ana winds rapidly expanded to more than 12,500 hectares overnight outside Los Angeles, forcing widening evacuations on Tuesday, December 5, 2017.
Firefighters work to put out raging flames in California. Photo credit: Ventura County Fire Department
Authorities in Ventura County, on the Pacific Coast just north of Los Angeles, declared an emergency and said they planned to use fixed wing aircraft and helicopters against the “fast moving, active brush fire.’’
The fire started north of Santa Paula and burned into the Ventura city limits, pushed by strong east winds.
The Ventura County Fire Department said that thousands of homes were being evacuated overnight in East Ventura.
“The fire is still out of control and structures continue to be threatened throughout the fire area,” county emergency officials said in statement.
“Due to the intensity of the fire, crews are having trouble making access and there are multiple reports of structures on fire.”
The blaze was being driven by what the National Weather Service called “potentially the strongest and longest duration” Santa Ana wind event of the current season.
The so-called devil winds blow out from Southern California’s inland deserts toward the coast, typically during autumn, causing very low humidity and raising the risk of wildfires in the heavily populated coastal regions.
Power company Southern California Edison tweeted that about 180,000 households were blacked out in and around Ventura County, with another 83,000 without power further north in Santa Barbara County, with no estimate of when service could be restored.
Several school districts in the area cancelled classes, and the Ventura County Red Cross opened two shelters.
Chairman, Cross River Forestry Commission, Mr Bette Obi, says uncontrolled tree felling for fuelwood by people is increasingly threatening the survival of forests across the country.
Dr Alice Ekwu, Cross River State Commissioner for Climate Change and Forestry
Obi said this in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 at a workshop on “Sustainable Fuelwood Management’’, organised by the Cross River Government in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
He said that forest exploitation for fuelwood had become a serious challenge that many countries had to face squarely, objectively and purposefully.
He said that the workshop, which drew participants from the 18 local government areas of the state, was organised to create awareness and sensitise the citizens to the benefits of the Sustainable Fuelwood Management Project.
He said that it was disheartening that most of the mangrove forests of the state had been degraded, as the trees were continuously felled and used as firewood for cooking and other forms of heating.
He said that, in view of this development, UNDP selected Cross River, Delta and Kaduna states for the commencement of the project.
“The Sustainable Fuelwood Management Project aims at promoting sustainable community-based forest management through incentives-based, structured fuelwood production and utilisation.
“The project also seeks to promote the establishment of private, community-based woodlots for fuelwood supply and introduce the prospects of producing and utilising fuel-efficient cook stoves.
“We have to thoroughly look at this because our mangroves and other forests are increasingly threatened by their unsustainable exploitation for fuelwood by local consumers,’’ he said.
Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River, who was represented by his deputy, Prof. Ivara Esu, said that the state had over 50 per cent of the country’s forest reserves.
Ayade, who described the workshop as “apt and timely’’, said that the government had started the planting of five million trees across the 18 local government areas of the state, with a view to restoring the forests lost to deforestation.
He urged the focal team of the workshop and development partners to come out with recommendations which would stem the growing depletion of forests in Cross River and other states of the country.
The UNDP Country Director, Mr Sam Bwalya, said that the UN agency was executing the project in partnership with the Cross River Government due to the large forest reserves of the state.
In her speech, Dr Alice Ekwu, the state Commissioner for Climate Change and Forestry, said that the ministry was working with relevant agencies to commence the planting of trees that would be specifically earmarked for fuelwood.
“Through that strategy, our forests would be left alone and duly preserved,’’ she added.
A National Youth Service Corp member in Benue State (name withheld ) suspected to be infected with monkey pox have been confined at Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), Makurdi.
Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr Cecilia Ojabo
Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr Cecilia Ojabo, who disclosed this to newsmen on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 in Makurdi, said the corps member was suspected to have contracted the disease after having sex with a girl from Gboko who was earlier diagnosed positive with monkey pox.
According to her, the corps member, who is posted to do his primary assignment in the place, has also accepted to have had a relationship with the girl.
She said, “When we leant of the case of the monkey pox in Gboko, we swiftly moved and confirmed the lady at BSUTH Infections Unit, and the blood sample from her was sent to Senegal. Few weeks ago the result came back positive.
“The girl told us that she got the disease from a driver who spent a night with her, but when we called him the man denied visiting Benue.
“However, there is another case of a corps member serving in Gboko, who also had an affair with her, both of them are now confined at the teaching hospital and will remain there until we are sure they are properly healed, ” she noted.
She said the third case of monkey pox in the state was reported of a boy schooling in Taraba State who came home at Katsina Ala, with symptoms of the disease, but vanished when a medical team was dispatched to the place to verify his case.
Dr Ojabo said when the parents of the boy with a suspected case were contacted, they also feigned ignorance of their child’s whereabout.
She advised members of the pubic to report any suspected case of the disease in their localities and maintain good hygiene to avoid infections.
The plight of vultures in Nigeria has been that of orphans who are often neglected by the society to fend for themselves in an environment that is becoming more hostile for their survival due to several factors, among which is the commercial exploitation of the birds for fetish and trado-medicinal uses. The mounting hostility has significantly accounted for the continued disappearance of these magnificent birds from our skies.
L-R: Nkiruka Omeje (Team member), Stephen Aina (Team leader), HRH, Alhaji Zubairu H/Gabdo (Emir of Gashaka kingdom), Somochukwu Udo-Azugo (Team member) and Mr. George (GGNP)
To encourage indigenous approach to biodiversity conservation and stall further threats to the already declining population of vultures in Nigeria, the BirdLife and Birdfair International floated a flagship initiative and award to inspire the direct involvement of young and vibrant nature enthusiasts in biodiversity conservation. Through the initiative, a group of young conservation leaders from the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) are engaging communities in the support zones (SZCs) of Gashaka Gumti National Park (GGNP) located in Taraba State, Nigeria in a conservation soccer tournament (CST). The CST was conceived with the aim of fostering mutual partnership and cooperation among the SZCs for the protection of Vultures.
The unprecedented turn-out, support and commitment of all spheres of stakeholders across the participating communities allude to the feasibility and practicability of engaging sport as a tool for creating far-reaching awareness and building of formidable platform to enhance community governance for vulture conservation.
To further solicit extended engagement of the emirate and in recognition of the support shown by the emirate to the fledging concept of vulture conservation in Gashaka kingdom, the team presented an award to the Emir of Gashaka kingdom, Alhaji Zubairu H/Gabdo Mohammadu, as the Royal Vulture Ambassador. He was cheered and thrilled by the more than 3,500 villagers who converged to witness the final match between Serti A and Goje communities. Serti A team finally emerged the winner on penalty shoot-out against Goje community with a margin of 5 – 3 goals. The award is said to be the first of its kind in the history of Avifauna conservation in Nigeria.
With the results achieved so far, vultures are beginning to have their fortune turned around through the efforts of the BirdLife/Birdfair Young Conservation Leaders in Nigeria.
As part of a €30 million intervention, the European Union on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 signed a €17.2 million agreement with three United Nations institutions working jointly to reduce the illegal killing of wildlife and the trafficking of wildlife products throughout Eastern and Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean.
African elephant poaching: The project aims to tackle illegal killing of wildlife and the trafficking of wildlife products
The new “cross-regional wildlife programme” will focus its activities in the regions’ most important protected areas, national transit points, and in some of Africa’s most important transboundary ecosystems.
After signing the agreement at the United Nations Headquarters in Africa, Mr. Stefano A. Dejak, the European Union ambassador to Kenya, said: “Illegal killing and trafficking of wildlife now runs into billions of dollars. To combat it, we need find new ways to work together more effectively. This new initiative brings together the European Union and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, as well as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and the Convention on Migratory Species. The aim is to build on our various strengths and experiences in protecting wildlife across borders.”
The new project aims at tackling the illegal killing of wildlife and the trafficking of wildlife products at three levels:
CITES, through its MIKE Programme, will lead the implementation of activities to reduce the illegal killing of wildlife at a number of priority protected areas located in critical transboundary ecosystems throughout Eastern and Southern Africa;
At the national and regional level, UNODC will lead activities focused on reducing the international trafficking of wildlife products by strengthening and expanding their highly successful Container Control Programme, improving criminal justice responses and enhancing capacities through the criminal justice chain under the Global Programme for Combatting Wildlife and Forest Crime; and
At the regional level, activities under CMS will focus on developing and strengthening the governance and collaborative management mechanisms for some of the regions’ most important transboundary conservation areas.
The Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON), Ms. Sahle-Work Zewde, said: “As we move rapidly towards 2030 – Providing technical assistance to Member States as they strive to achieve the bold targets of the sustainable development goals is a challenge of scale. Goal 15 is no exception and the European Union, with its generous financial contribution, is helping ensure that the children of Africa will be able to witness the magnificent diversity its land has to offer.”
Mr. John Scanlon, Secretary General of CITES, added: “CITES is delighted to continue its longstanding, positive relationship with the European Union. This new initiative enables us to enhance our current work and expand our support to those who are serving in the front-line to stop the illegal killing of Africa’s wildlife. It also strengthens the links between CITES and CMS, the world’s wildlife conventions, in a highly effective manner and draws upon the expertise of UNODC and our other ICCWC (International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime) partners.”
After the signature of the agreement, UNODC’s Regional Coordinator for the Wildlife and Forest Crime programme, Mr. Javier Montano, said: “The comprehensive approach of this programme, will certainly go a long way in bringing systemic change as well as enhancing the criminal justice responses to wildlife crime in the regions.”
Laura Cerasi, representing CMS on behalf of its Executive Secretary, Mr. Bradnee Chambers, said: “CMS looks forward to working with CITES and UNODC and others across Eastern and Southern Africa, to strengthen management in some of the continent’s most important transboundary conservation areas. This project significantly supports the delivery of the joint CITES and CMS work plan and the outcomes of CMS CoP 12 held in Manila last month.”
Growing antimicrobial resistance linked to discharge of drugs and particular chemicals into the environment is one of the most worrying health threats today, according to new research from UN Environment that highlights emerging challenges and solutions in the environmental space.
Erik Solheim, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Photo credit: OECD/Michael Dean
Launched during the United Nations Environment Assembly at UN Environment headquarters in Nairobi, “The Frontiers Report” looks at six areas: the environmental dimension of antimicrobial resistance; nanomaterials, marine protected areas, sand and dust storms, off-grid solar solutions, and environmental displacement.
Of the issues considered, the report finds that the role of the environment in the emergence and spread of resistance to antimicrobials is particularly concerning.
“The warning here is truly frightening: we could be spurring the development of ferocious superbugs through ignorance and carelessness,” said UN Environment chief Erik Solheim. “Studies have already linked the misuse of antibiotics in humans and agriculture over the last several decades to increasing resistance, but the role of the environment and pollution has received little attention.
“This needs priority action right now, or else we run the risk of allowing resistance to occur through the back door, with potentially terrifying consequences.”
Antimicrobial resistance occurs when a microorganism evolves to resist the effects of an antimicrobial agent. Globally, about 700,000 people die of resistant infections every year because available antimicrobial drugs have become less effective at killing the resistant pathogens.
There is clear evidence that the release into the environment of antimicrobial compounds in effluents from households, hospitals and pharmaceutical facilities, and in agricultural run-off, combined with direct contact between natural bacterial communities and discharged resistant bacteria, is driving bacterial evolution and the emergence of more resistant strains.
Once consumed, most antibiotic drugs are excreted un-metabolised along with resistant bacteria – up to 80 per cent of consumed antibiotics, according to the report. This is a growing problem, since human antibiotic use increased 36 per cent this century, and antibiotic use in livestock is predicted to increase 67 per cent by 2030. Additionally, up to 75 per cent of antibiotics used in aquaculture may be lost into the surrounding environment.
Wastewater treatment facilities cannot remove all antibiotics and resistant bacteria, and in fact may be hot-spots for antimicrobial resistance. There is evidence showing that multi-drug resistant bacteria are prevalent in marine waters and sediments close to aquaculture, industrial and municipal discharges.
Solving the problem will mean tackling the use and disposal of antibiotic pharmaceuticals as well as the release of antimicrobial drugs, relevant contaminants and resistant bacteria into the environment, the report says.
The report also considers five other emerging issues.
Nanomaterials: Applying the Precautionary Principle
The global nanomaterials market is expected to grow 20.7 per cent annually, and reach $55 billion by 2022. There is a serious risk that we do not understand enough about the long-term effects of nanomaterials to use them safely. The report finds that the speed of industrial development is far out-stripping the pace of regulatory development.
Past lessons from exposure to hazardous materials – such as asbestos – teaches us that “no evidence of harm” does not equal “evidence of no harm”, meaning that research into the possible negative consequences of environmental exposure to nanomaterials is essential.
Marine Protected Areas: Securing Benefits for Sustainable Development
Overfishing, extractive activities, tourism, coastal development and pollution are damaging ocean habitats and reducing populations of marine species. We have lost half of the world’s coral reefs and are consuming nearly one-third of our commercial fish stocks at unsustainable rates.
Marine Protected Areas offer one of the best options for maintaining or restoring the health of ocean and coastal ecosystems. While the Aichi target of protecting 10 per cent of coastal and territorial waters by 2020 has been achieved – hitting 14.4 per cent to date – protecting the marine environment also requires effective management and the equitable sharing of costs and benefits.
Governing the oceans in a sustainable way could see Marine Protected Areas as a driver – not a limit – for the vital economic and social benefits that we derive from the global ocean.
Sand and Dust Storms: Subduing a Global Phenomenon
Sand and dust storm result from strong winds eroding sand, silt and clay particles from arid landscapes and impoverishing their soils. They can travel thousands of kilometres across continents and oceans, entraining other pollutants on the way and depositing particles far from their origin.
Chronic exposure to fine dust contributes to premature deaths from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer and acute lower respiratory infections. Economic losses from a single dust storm can also be huge. A massive dust storm, called Red Dawn, in Australia on September 22 to 23, 2009 cost an estimated $262 million.
Despite the known issues, human activity has caused dust emission to rise by 25-50 per cent since 1900. Land-use changes are responsible for 25 per cent of global dust emission.
Reducing the threat will require strategies that promote sustainable land and water management in landscapes including cropland, rangelands, deserts, and urban areas, integrated with measures addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Solar Solutions: Bridging the Energy Gap for Off-Grid Settlements
Nearly one billion people worldwide live without electricity. While significant progress has been made in recent years, an estimated 780 million people could remain off-grid in 2030.
Recent years have seen the proliferation of small distributed solar energy systems serving low-income customers in Africa and Asia, where at least 95 per cent of the world’s off-grid population reside.
There have been successful roll-outs of solar products with improved batteries, lower capital costs, affordable financing and easy access to pay-as-you-go schemes. With the right policies and regulations, off-grid solar could be key to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals for universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services and eliminating poverty.
Environmental Displacement: Human Mobility in the Anthropocene
We live in an era of unprecedented mobility. About 250 million people live and work outside the country of their birth. Another 750 million people migrate within their own countries. Migration drives development and progress, offering opportunities, spreading ideas and creating connections around the world.
Natural disasters and conflicts also drive migration. For example, severe drought and food insecurity has displaced 761,000 people in Somalia since November 2016. Globally, 117 million people were displaced by weather-related disasters between 2012 and 2016.
Migration produces environmental changes that cascade through the Earth’s systems – air, water and soil pollution, deforestation, soil erosion and desertification, water scarcity and biodiversity loss.
The interwoven trends of climate change, population growth, rising consumption, and environmental degradation are likely to lead to the displacement and migration of even greater numbers of people in the future. Unless we deal with long-term environmental vulnerability and build resilience in communities, environmental displacement will become a new normal.
