According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), close to 50 lakh Indians were displaced in 2021 due to climate change and natural disasters. In 2020 in India, 3,856,000 people were displaced by environmental disasters, 989 times more than the 3,900 persons displaced by conflicts according to data of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). The number of Indians displaced due to disasters in 2019 was about 27 lakhs. The ‘Costs of climate inaction: displacement and distress migration’ report estimated that by 2050 over 4.5 crore Indians will be forced to migrate from their homes due to climate disasters.
India is the fifth most vulnerable country in the world when it comes to climate change. A 2021 study by the Council for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) had found that over 74 per cent of India’s districts are vulnerable to extreme climate events, with 27 out of 35 states and union territories being affected.
Source: indiatimes.com