WORLD leaders attending Cop27 were urged on the final day of the summit to act now to create safe routes for refugees fleeing climate breakdown. 

In a joint statement today, British refugee and migrant rights groups stressed that the issue of climate refugees must be included in negotiations during the summit in Egypt. 

“As organisations that work with people on the front lines of climate breakdown, we know first-hand that for many, migration is already a survival strategy,” the statement, signed by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, UK City of Sanctuary and Migrants Organise says. 

“We must act now to create safe avenues for people who have been forced to move by the impacts of climate breakdown.”

Since 2008 around 21.5 million people have been displaced on average each year due to extreme weather events, including floods and wildfires, according to the United Nations refugee agency. 

These numbers are expected to surge in the coming decades with international think tank IEP predicting that 1.2 billion could be forced to flee their homes by 2050 due to climate change. 

However climate refugees do not currently qualify for refugee status under international law. 

Campaigners warn that while the need to move has never been greater, European leaders, including in Britain, are “ramping up anti-migrant rhetoric” and eroding refugee rights. 

“Sadly, as climate disaster escalates, we are seeing the British government criminalise people seeking safety in Britain, and embracing the politics of the far-right,” the statement continues. 

“The climate change negotiations taking place in Egypt this year must make progress in protecting the rights and welfare of people who are on the move in an era of climate
breakdown.”

The groups add that high-emitting countries like Britain should accept responsibility for driving the climate crisis not only by cutting emissions but by offering sanctuary to people fleeing the impacts of the crisis. 

Migrant Organise CEO Zrinka Bralo said: “Most often, it is communities who have contributed the least to climate breakdown that are experiencing the worst climate loss and damage. 

“This crisis demands urgent action, recognising that migrant justice and climate justice are intrinsically linked.”