Climate Change, Natural Disasters and Human Displacement: A UNHCR Perspective

This policy paper was updated and superseded by the paper issued by UNHCR in August 2009. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, also wrote in the September/October 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs magazine about new global displacement patterns expected in the 21st Century. War and human rights violations have long been the main trigger forcing people to flee their homes and seek shelter within or beyond their national borders. Guterres says globalization, unresolved poverty and enduring insecurity is also now prompting many people to leave their homes in search of better lives, while climate change and environmental degradation will exacerbate such trends.