There are at least 25 million environmental refugees today, a total to be compared with 22 million refugees of traditional kind. They are mainly located in Sub-Saharan Africa (notably the Sahel and the Horn), the Indian sub-continent, China, Mexico and Central America. The essential message is this: for all countries, whether developing or developed, the overriding objective must be to reduce the motivation for environmentally destitute people to migrate by supplying them with acceptable lifestyles. For developed countries in particular, the prospect will increasingly become a case of 'export the wherewithall for sustainable development for communities at risk-or import growing numbers of environmental refugees' Environmental refugees could become one of the foremost human crises of our times. By far the best way to deal with the problem is to preempt it: to recognize it, to comprehend it, and to respond by tackling the sources of the problem rather than reacting to its symptoms.

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Environmental Degradation migration determinants Refugees