“UNHCR, The Environment & Climate Change. Some of the factors that increase the risk of violent conflict within states are sensitive to climate change.”

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has since more than two decades worked to improve sustainable environmental management in regions where especially needed. It may be a surprising fact that climate change and displacements are so closely interlinked, unless not familiar with the causes and roots of different conflicts and disasters worldwide. Today, majority of armed conflicts are state-internal, making it legally difficult for even the United Nations to intervene, in addition to the many risks that for example UN volunteers, or other volunteers, such as staff of the International Red Cross may face while trying to help civil´s in countries affected. Although committing war crimes and breaking the international humanitarian law by killing civil´s and aid workers/volunteers, this has become a general practice in (civil) wars, with actually more civil´s than soldiers losing their lives.

An example of armed soldiers attacking innocent people is Boko Haram, a group of extremists, in North East Nigeria. In 2014, they kidnapped 276 innocent school girls, part of whom were set free in May 2017 after negotiations with the Nigerian government. Yet, many of these girls are still being held hostage, and Boko Haram continues attacking innocent people in Northern Nigeria and in neighboring countries, with estimations of having killed at least 20.000 civil´s so far.

According to a number of sources, Boko Haram started its extreme activities as a response to the Lake Chad Basin Crisis, whereby Lake Chad, having been an important source of water and economic activity for the four countries (Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon) surrounding it, has dried out by 95%. As a result of this, Boko Haram has become so violent in the region that at least one million (1.000.000) have had to flee their homes.

Learn more about Boko Haram (and, Lake Chad Basin crisis) here:

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“WHO. Globally, (fresh)water scarcity already affects four out of every 10 people. Poor water quality also increases the risk of diarrhoea and trachoma.”

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A lack of fresh water is (no longer) a nightmare that people in a number of African countries have to live with, as e.g. I was taught as a child. Another raw fact is that we actually do have enough fresh water resources for ALL living beings on Earth, humans, animals, and plants, but there is a greedy and corrupted elite that does not care about the welfare of others, and who instead consume at least thousand times more fresh water than they would actually need, leaving others to suffer.

The shortage of fresh water is not a question of availability, but rather of greediness and lack of empathy for those in need, and, of course, a firm belief by ruthless human beings who think they deserve better and more than others. What does not surprise me at all is that the United States is the biggest consumer worldwide, per capita, of the world´s fresh water resources, followed by the United Arab Emirates. If every greedy person on this planet would take a look in the mirror + after that long look make even small adjustments to his/her consumption habits, we could actually reduce fresh water usage drastically and enable that every person on this planet has access to clean, fresh water which is a BASIC HUMAN RIGHT. The problem is no longer only that the poorest people have no access to fresh water, since almost half of world population now lack access to clean, fresh water, including the “middle class” in many countries. So, act now and do something before it is too late.

Learn more here:

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“WHO. Climate and weather have powerful direct and indirect impacts on human life. Approximately 600.000 deaths occurred worldwide in the 1990´s as a result of weather-related natural disasters.”

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According to current research, hundreds of millions of people will face deadly weather events by 2100. In Europe alone, it is expected that up to 150.000 people could die every year due to climate change. The Study,  “Increasing risk over time of weather-related hazards to the European population: a data-driven prognostic study”, funded by the European Commission, reveals that at least 2/3 of European population (more than 350.000 million people in Europe alone) could be faced with climate change and weather related disasters by 2100. These numbers are enormous. (Forzieri, G., Cescatti, A., Silva B.e. & Feyen, L. Lancet Planet Health 2017;  1: e200–08).

If in Europe alone, which is the leading continent in environmentally friendly practices and actions against climate change, the prognosis suggests numbers like this, what will people on other continents face? Asia is the most populated continent on Earth, currently emitting the most greenhouse gases in total, while the Americas is the leading greenhouse gas emitter per capita, the U.S.A. currently emitting more greenhouse gases per person than any other country in the world. Our world cannot handle these increasing extreme weather events without serious damage in all areas of life, as we see as an example on National Geographic´s video where Firefighters Battle the Infernos of Climate Change:

Connect with me on Twitter @annemariayritys – for climate-related posts only @GCCThinkActTank & to receive my newsletter delivered personally to you, subscribe to Leading With Passion