Countries must plan for climate refugees

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/environment/2011/October/environment_October42.xml§ion=environment

(Reuters)

28 October 2011

WASHINGTON - The world’s governments and relief agencies need to plan now to resettle millions of people expected to be displaced by climate change, an international panel of experts said on Thursday.

Resettlement related to large infrastructure development projects has been occurring for decades, with some estimates of up to 10 million people a year, said the report’s lead author, Alex de Sherbinin.

Lessons from such resettlement can inform future resettlement, which in fact is already under way in Vietnam, Mozambique, on the Alaskan coast, the Chinese territory of Inner Mongolia and in the South Pacific.

If global temperatures rise, as predicted, by as much as 7.2 degrees F (4 degrees C) this century, “resettlement would become virtually unavoidable in some regions of the world,” the scientists wrote in the journal Science.

[jwirr]

1. I am glad someone has at least begun to talk about it. We in the USA

had better understand that we also have neighbors to the south of us who are going the be in that category.

However, I am not at all sure that we or most other areas will bother to help once it gets really bad. My guess is that those in safe areas will be so afraid regarding their own safety that they will build walls instead of bridges. Sorry for the lack of trust in humanity.

[lunatica]

2. The US is not immune to rising sea levels

You can see on this map from Geology.com You can click on different cities listed at the top of the map and you can choose the rise in meters.

http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/

[jwirr]

3. I know - we also have the high heat and drought in the SW and I

suspect that many will be moving to other areas if it continues to get worse.

[lunatica]

6. Lately I've thought that Texas might become our own Sahara Desert

Maybe the southern states from coast to coast might become more of a desert. That and northern Mexico. They're desert now, but it could get so bad that no one can live there - no agriculture or range land for cattle.

[jwirr]

7. Yes, I think we will also have migrations from the cities that are subject

not only to rising water but to oil depletion. We have not even begun to come close to being able to provide the alternative energy needed for our huge cities.

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, NNNOLHI.

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. If temperatures rise 7 d F, we won't have to worry about much at all.