World Bank Says 86 Million Africans Will Be Forced to Migrate Due to Climate Change

World Bank Says 86 Million Africans Will Be Forced to Migrate Due to Climate Change

(MENAFN- SomTribune) As many as 86 million Africans will be forced to migrate within their own countries by 2050 due to the effects of changing weather patterns, according to a study by the World Bank. The forced movements in areas of West Africa and the Lake Victoria basin could start in less than a decade and then intensify, the Washington-based lender said in the report ahead of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties in Glasgow. People dependent on agriculture and fisheries, for instance, will move to more habitable areas to escape extreme conditions such as water scarcity, flooding, heat stress, and rising seas. "From pastoralists traveling the Sahel to fishermen braving the seas, the story of West Africa is a story of climate migrants," said Ousmane Diagana, World Bank's vice president for western and central Africa."As countries are experiencing increases in temperatures, erratic rainfall, flooding, and coastal erosion, Africans will face unprecedented challenges in the coming years," Africa has been badly hit by climate change-related disasters over the past decade, a trend that may continue, even if the continent accounts for less than 5% of the world's greenhouse gases. Some of the shocks include Cyclone Idai that