Global warming could create 'greater migratory pressure from Africa'

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Global warming could create 'greater migratory pressure from Africa'

David Attenborough uses IMF speech to warn of human consequences of inaction on climate change

Larry Elliott in Washington DC
Thu 11 Apr 2019 19.59 BST Last modified on Thu 11 Apr 2019 20.55 BST

Europe can expect even greater migratory pressure from Africa unless action is taken to prevent global warming, Sir David Attenborough has said in a strongly worded warning to policymakers that time is running out to save the natural world from extinction.

Speaking at the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC, the broadcaster and environmentalist said that on current trends parts of the world would soon become uninhabitable and populations would be be forced to move.

Attenborough, 92, said it was vital that countries met their commitments made in the 2015 Paris climate agreement to reduce carbon emissions because time was fast running out for the planet.

Asked by the IMF managing director, Christine Lagarde, whether there was a link between migration and climate change, Attenborough said: “It is happening in Europe. People are coming from Africa because they can’t live where they are.”

He said migration pressures would become more acute as temperatures continued to rise because more parts of the world would become uninhabitable.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/11/expect-even-greater-migration-from-africa-says-attenborough-imf-global-warming

[progree]

1. That, and the population of Africa is expected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050 (it reached 1 billion

in 2010). -- Population Connection Magazine, March 2019, p. 35.