Don't mention climate change! Europe's response to the refugee crisis is doomed to fail
Assaad W. Razzouk
24th April 2015
The more EU politicians try to look in control of the Mediterranean refugee emergency, the more it's obvious they aren't. A key driver of the crisis is climate change, which is causing drought across North Africa. Europe must now tackle the root causes of the crisis, and admit its own culpability in precipitating it.
Yesterday, European leaders promised to triple their spending on border protection from Euro 36 million a year to €108 million a year. With this paltry sum, Europe is hoping to "tackle the root causes of the human emergency" it faces. Europe's response is wholly inadequate and will fail. The Middle East is burning, from Libya to Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon are bursting with millions of refugees they can't afford to help.
In Libya, there are 600,000 people waiting to get to Europe right now and if given the opportunity, a couple of million will join them from the refugee camps in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. This migration pressure from so many Middle Eastern states on fire is on top of one of the key drivers of migration from Africa to Europe via Mediterranean boats: the striking climate disaster unfolding in the Great Sahel Desert region of Africa.
Mounting food insecurity across North Africa
From Senegal in West Africa, to Eritrea in East Africa, via Mali, Niger, Chad and Sudan, the Sahel region is affected by a 'Chinese menu' of climate change-related impacts. Rainfall is decreasing, temperatures are increasing, agricultural output is disrupted and people are moving around the region searching for jobs, food, water and shelter. When they don't find them in their countries, they migrate north. Now they are joined by Syrians, Yemenis, Iraqis from the Middle East, and others. The situation is calamitous, and getting worse.
Africa's Lake Chad for example, on which 68 million people depend for water, shrank 95% since 1963. The Middle East and Northern Africa are predicted to see water shortages increasing fivefold by 2050. Water stress will have dire implications on agriculture and climate change will in turn decrease crop yields by 15 to 20%. Further water shortages will also have devastating effects on the Nile Delta, where increased evaporation and heavier water use upstream have already negatively affected fertility. Without fresh water to keep salinity levels low in the coastal farmland, the once fertile lands become barren and salt-encrusted. Egypt is now facing mounting food insecurity, despite a widespread food subsidy program.
Read more: http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/2843295/dont_mention_climate_change_europes_response_to_the_refugee_crisis_is_doomed_to_fail.html
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The US M$M's lack of reporting on the major climate change factor is deplorable. Don't know enough about EU news on this subject but it doesn't look good from this article. When will the mainstream climate denialism change I wonder with the enormous influence of global energy corporations and others on the news media, and everything else.
