UNU-EHS expert Kees van der Geest comments on mass displacement due to climate change in The New York Times

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  • 2019•09•13     New York     The New York Times

    Photo: UNICEF/ Wathiq Khuzaie

    In a recent article, the New York Times discussed a new report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre that concluded that “floods, landslides, cyclones and other extreme weather events temporarily displaced more people in the first half of this year than during the same period in any other year.” During the first six months of 2019, approximately seven million people were displaced due to extreme weather events.

    As an expert on climate-induced migration, UNU-EHS’ Kees van der Geest was interviewed as an impartial scientist to gauge the accuracy of these numbers. He referred to them as “the best estimates available” and said they should even be considered “low.” This is because displacement from slow-onset processes, such as sea level rise and desertification, is not included in the figures.

    Click here to read the original article.