BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Climate change could push more than 200 million people to move within their own countries in the next three decades and create migration hotspots unless urgent action is taken in the coming years to reduce global emissions and bridge the development gap, a World Bank report has found.
The report published on Monday examines how long-term impacts of climate change such as water scarcity, decreasing crop productivity, and rising sea levels could lead to millions of what the report describes as "climate migrants" by 2050.
Curbing carbon emissions, increasing risk-adaptation, and sustainable, inclusive development could reduce internal migration by up to 80%.
According to the Associated Press, the report focused on internally displaced people (IDPs), which stated that by 2050, there'd be 86 million internal climate migrants in Sub-Saharan Africa and 19.9 million in South Asia.
Reuters reported that 19 million more in North Africa, 49 million in the East Asia and Pacific region, 17 million in Latin America, and 5 million in Eastern Europe and Central Asia could be displaced.