Forced to Flee: How climate change is driving migration

Moving to a new place should be a choice for people, not a necessity. However, climate change is forcing millions out of their homes every year due to increasing threats to people’s safety, livelihoods, and access to necessities such as food and water. 

Forced migration and internal displacement

Pacific Island Nations are estimated to only be responsible for 0.03% of the world’s carbon emissions, yet are being disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change. 

Communities most affected by worsening extreme weather events are being forced to evacuate at a moment’s notice to survive, often with no clear place to go. This is particularly traumatic for indigenous peoples, such as those of the Pacific, who have a deep ancestral connection to their land and do not want to leave.

While some people can move countries to escape the impacts of climate change for now, millions are instead forced to settle in new places within the borders of their home countries, becoming internally displaced persons (IDPs). 

In 2023 alone, there were a recorded 7.7 million people around the world who were internally displaced due to storms, flooding, wildfires, earthquakes, and other disasters. 

However, it is not just extreme weather events and disasters that are forcing people to migrate or become internally displaced. Significant changes are happening to our planet at a slower rate, such as the effects of rising sea levels on day-to-day life in the Pacific. 

Protections for people forced to move

One of the key issues that will increasingly put lives at risk is that currently there aren’t safe pathways for people from Pacific Island Nations to migrate to New Zealand due to climate change risks.  

The term ‘climate change refugee’ is often used, however people fleeing their homes due to the impacts of climate change are not legally recognised as refugees, and because of this they are not afforded the same protections.  

Their lack of alternate options can force them to make arrangements that do not prioritise their safety. 

“While leaving is in itself traumatic, displaced people face situations of high precariousness, disintegration of their households, discrimination, abuse, exploitation, trafficking, conflict, violence and successive moves. 

Adding to their hardships, they are often forcibly returned to the place they initially had to flee and are left with no other option but to move again.” – Caritas Internationalis, Displaced by a Changing Climate 

How Caritas is helping 

It is important to ensure that if people need to relocate due to the impacts of climate change they have support to achieve this, particularly due to the high numbers of internally displaced persons and forced migrants. However, migration should not be seen as the only solution. 

It is essential that we focus on protecting the Earth that we have now. We need to be taking collective action to address the root causes of climate change now and come up with long-term solutions, rather than waiting until it’s too late. 

That’s why Caritas is prioritising promoting local knowledge for adaptation and mitigation approaches to climate change, to help communities remain where they are. 

For example, in Kiribati, the rising sea levels are not only eroding land. Fresh water sources are becoming salinized, leading to shortages in available drinking water. 

People in Kiribati are doing everything they can to be resilient to climate change.

Furthermore, the soil in Kiribati is becoming too sandy to grow crops, impacting people’s ability to rely on traditional food sources and farming methods.  

This also provides challenges for families who rely on selling their crops for an income. 

In the face of these changes to Kiribati, Caritas’ partner Teitoiningaina Health Initiative are working on adapting current practices for accessing food and water long-term, as well as implementing new ones in order to increase their resilience to the impacts of climate change. 

Teitoiningaina is training women in the settlement of Bikenibeu, Kiribati on new ways of growing crops, composting, and using rainwater tanks to collect fresh water to drink. Through this education and training, women in Bikenibeu are able to be self-sufficient, providing food for their families and wider community year-round. 

Caritas’ priority is on climate resilience. We want communities to be able to continue living securely where they are. The work of Teitoiningaina is just one process of climate change adaptation happening in the Pacific, and you can learn more about this amazing community initiative and others on our website.