A billion people -- one in seven people on Earth today -- could be forced to leave their homes over the next 50 years as the effects of climate change worsen an already serious migration crisis, a new report from Christian Aid predicts.
The report, which is based on latest UN population and climate change figures, said conflict, large-scale development projects and widespread environmental deterioration will combine to make life unsupportable for hundreds of millions of people.
According to the development charity, the world faces its largest movement of people forced from their homes.
"Forced migration is now the most urgent threat facing poor nations," said John Davison, the report's lead author. "Climate change is the great, frightening unknown in this equation."
About 155 million people are known to be displaced now by conflict, natural disaster and development projects. This figure could be augmented by as many as 850 million, as more people are expected to be affected by water shortages, sea level crises, deteriorating pasture land, conflicts and famine, the report said.
The authors admit that the figures are uncertain "because there are no recent, authoritative global figures on the number of people who could be displaced by climate change."
"But the lack of knowledge must not lead to a neglect of what can be done now to prevent displacement and to help people who are affected," said the report, which said the best way to reduce people's vulnerability would be to reduce global poverty.
It draws heavily on the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which said that by 2080, 1.1 billion to 3.2 billion people would be experiencing water scarcity, 200 million to 600 million hunger and 2 million to 7 million a year coastal flooding.
"A staggering number of people are being pushed aside to make way for dams, roads and other large-scale development [projects]," the report said.
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