GPERS REFLECTION:

“Climate change refugees is a far bigger global issue than I realised”

Climate change has been looming over our heads for the past fifty years, but it’s accelerated exponentially over the past ten years. Indonesia’s forests may be gone by 2022. 2022 is the year I graduate. In 3 years time, there may not be an Indonesian rainforest anymore. Not only that, but Indonesia is now the third country with the largest carbon footprint, mostly caused by the rate of deforestation, and therefore the release of carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.

The effects of climate change are very real.

Not only does climate change affect every single organism on this planet, due to changing the ecosystems and unbalancing the natural habitats of animals, therefore causing extinction; but it also is most likely to be the downfall of mankind. We are currently having stronger and more detrimental natural disasters, and this is a result of climate change. Droughts and heat waves, will be common, just like Europe has been going through intense heat waves every summer for the past three years. Singapore hasn’t had rain for around a month at a time, which is very different from what Singapore’s tropical climate should be like.

Climate change refugees are generally groups of people pre-disposed to facing hard situations, that fall under the effects of climate change. Usually, developing countries have many climate change refugees, because the political unrest, economic instability, and finally the ecological changes were all combining to become an inhabitable place for communities.

For example, communities living on pacific islands are endangered and need to seek asylum some other place, because their home will be submerged in around ten years. Climate change refugees are a cause of developed countries refusing to acknowledge their impact on our “commons”, this Earth. These refugees travel long journeys looking for basic necessities, just like refugees caused by political instability.