At a meeting in Bangladesh recently “experts” insisted that “climate refugees” would cause security issues throughout the world as they tried to move away from some climate-driven crisis to another country.   I thought after the failure of Copenhagen and the revelations of  a major scientific hoax centered at the UN, all this hoopla was going away. 

Looks like third world countries are still beating the “climate refugee” drum hoping ultimately for a redistribution of wealth from the evil capitalists.  They know how to pull on heartstrings using the word “refugee” even when they have been admonished not to use the word by the elites in the real refugee community like Refugees International, here.

From the Daily Star (Dhaka, Bangladesh):

Security and climate experts yesterday called for concerted efforts to address the issue of climate-driven migration, which will be the major cause of inter-countries conflicts.

As climate refugees of a country would try to enter a neighbouring country for their livelihoods, a conflict might arise between the two countries, said Maj Gen (retd) Muniruzzaman, president of Bangladesh Institute for Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS).

So, all the countries should take steps to address the security issues, which might result from global climate change, he said.

Climate refugees have already started to migrate internally from the remote areas to urban, which will lead to international migration and pose a threat to security, he added.  [Is it possible these are economic migrants moving from rural to urban areas looking for work or welfare!-ed]

Maj Gen (retd) Muniruzzaman made the remarks at a press conference at the end of a two-day regional expert roundtable on ‘Security implications of climate change in South Asia’ at a city hotel.

It would not be possible for any country alone to manage a large number of climate refugees, he said and stressed the need for concerted efforts of all countries to address the issue.

Here are some of the suggestions Refugees International has made for what to call these new “refugees:”   

People displaced by climate change (PDCCs)? Climate displaced people (CDPs)? People affected by climatic events (PACEs)?

Not as sexy or appealing for media purposes as “climate refugee.”