Summаry: Using the reаding “Fleeing аn Angry Climate”, write a summary that includes the inferred thesis, majоr suppоrting details and key minоr supporting details. Your summary must be paraphrased. Your summary should be approximately 8-10 sentences. It is not necessary to mention the author/title or to use reporting language. You may use a blank piece of paper to write an outline or you can write an outline in the text box. Fleeing an Angry Climate (1) Last July, Ioane Teitiota, a man from the low-lying Pacific island nation of Kiribati, was deported from New Zealand after trying to become the world’s first legally recognized climate refugee1. With the industrialized world struggling to absorb a flood of migrants and refugees from Syria, Africa, and Latin America, climate refugees may already number in the millions. In 2008 alone, 20 million people were displaced because of rising sea levels, desertification, and flooding, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Many more have fled drought, war, or starvation in which climate change may have been a contributing factor. (2) “It’s very difficult to see the clear connection between climate and people’s decision to cross borders,” cautions Francesco Femia, cofounder and director of the Center for Climate and Security, in Washington, D.C. “There are a lot of steps in between.” Syria, for example, was withered by an unprecedented drought from 2007 to 2010, which researchers have linked to climate change. The drought, combined with President Assad regime’s misguided agricultural policies, resulted in three-quarters of the nation’s most vulnerable farmers suffering total crop failure. As many as 1.5 million people from rural areas then migrated to cities like Damascus and Homs. That influx contributed to civil unrest3, which displaced around 11.6 million Syrians—4 million of whom have crossed into other countries. (3) Climate change may also be a factor in the surge in migrants to the United States from Central America. In addition to violence and instability related to drug cartels, the Central American coffee industry has been hammered by coffee leaf rust, a fungal disease that is exacerbated by climate change. In Guatemala alone, 90,000 coffee workers have lost their jobs. At the same time, a persistent drought has caused massive crop failures and skyrocketing food prices throughout the region. In Honduras and Guatemala, 75 percent of corn and bean crops have failed. Drought in Mexico in 2012 cut agricultural production by 40 percent. (4) The Pentagon4 has described climate change as a “threat multiplier”—a factor that can make a bad situation worse, destabilizing weak states and making it more difficult for them to recover from other blows. Michael Werz, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, draws overlapping circles on a map to illustrate the concept. “Here is preexisting political conflict,” he explains showing one circle. “Here are areas of climate or environmental concern. Here are migratory routes. Where these three intersect is where you have the potential for trouble.” (5) In peaceful and stable regions, people might survive drought, floods, and crop failures through community cooperation, government assistance, or temporary relocation within the country. But when war and repression break down those systems, cross-border migration becomes the solution of last resort. “The drought and the war—they ran side by side. It is difficult to say which one forced us to move,” a Somali shepherd now living in Uganda explained in a 2012 report issued by the U.N. Refugee Agency. 1 refugee: s.o. who has been forced to leave their country, especially due to war, or political or religious reasons 2 drought: a long period of dry weather when there is not enough water for plants and animals to live 3 unrest: a political situation in which people protest or behave violently 4 Pentagon: the building in Washington DC from which the army, navy etc of the US are controlled; the US military (6) Pressures from a worsening climate are likely to increase. A recent report from the Economics of Land Degradation, a global initiative devoted to sustainable land management, predicts that desertification (when farmland becomes desert) due to climate change could create 50 million migrants over the coming decade. Regions particularly vulnerable to climate-induced migration include much of Asia, South America, and Africa—basically, almost anywhere that has large numbers of impoverished people. (7) There is no legal definition of who counts as a climate refugee, nor is there any international body equipped to deal with the problem. (The 1951 Refugee Convention pertains only to those fleeing political persecution5.) Existing international humanitarian, development, and security agencies are focused exclusively on single parts of the whole—for example, food aid, infrastructure investment, counterterrorism, or disaster relief. Coping with the impacts of climate change will require unprecedented international cooperation. And national government agencies will need to adopt climate-adaptation plans. “Our goal is to convince people in the national-security community that this is not just an issue for treehuggers,6” Werz says. (8) One cause for optimism is the fact that so much climate information already exists. Human behavior is hard to predict, but the climate is behaving as the scientific models said it would. If the international community can come together, it should be possible to prepare for the inevitable results of a warming world. “Governments are starting to look at the connections between climate change and nation fragility,” Femia notes. Indeed, ministers and other officials from 110 countries met in Geneva last October and adopted a (nonbinding7) agenda to collect data on climate refugees, consider the use of temporary visas to aid them, and seek ways to help them avoid fleeing in the first place. 5 persecution: cruel or unfair treatment of someone over a period of time, especially because of their religious or political beliefs 6 treehuggers: a term used to describe people who are passionate about protecting the environment 7 nonbinding: a non-binding agreement or decision does not have to be obeyed (adapted from Slater, Dashka, Sierra. Jan/Feb2016, Vol. 101 Issue 1)
The fаct thаt “There is nо legаl definitiоn оf who counts as a climate refugee, nor is there any international body equipped to deal with the problem,” (beginning of paragraph 7) suggests that the … (7) There is no legal definition of who counts as a climate refugee, nor is there any international body equipped to deal with the problem. (The 1951 Refugee Convention pertains only to those fleeing political persecution5.) Existing international humanitarian, development, and security agencies are focused exclusively on single parts of the whole—for example, food aid, infrastructure investment, counterterrorism, or disaster relief. Coping with the impacts of climate change will require unprecedented international cooperation. And national government agencies will need to adopt climate-adaptation plans. “Our goal is to convince people in the national-security community that this is not just an issue for treehuggers,6” Werz says.