There are now 35 million people internally displaced on the continent, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), compared with 11.6 million in 2009, when African governments signed a landmark deal legally binding them to tackle the causes of displacement.IDMC said its new report shows even more work is required, especially considering the growing threat posed by flooding and droughts.“The displacement situation in Africa is absolutely critical, but not hopeless,” said Alexandra Bilak, director at IDMC. “There are many good examples on the continent of governments working to address its root causes. It’s important for them to keep ownership of this issue and the international community to support their efforts. Conflict accounts for 32.5 million of the people experiencing displacement, 80% of whom come from just five countries – the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan.....read on https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/nov/26/thirty-five-million-africans-driven-from-homes-by-war-and-climate-disasters-report

Desperate for Hope? Linking Human Well-Being and Climate Solutions is a Way Forward Wilson Center- New Security Beat September 22, 2021 Yusuf Jameel, Carissa Patrone & Kristen P. Patterson If raging wildfires, extreme drought, and superstorms haven’t made it clear, the latest IPCC report tells us in plain language: the world is poised for worsening climate impacts over the next 30 years. The report’s release—during an unprecedented pandemic and natural disasters that magnify the connections between climate, health, livelihoods, and human well-being—is a grim reminder of the fragility of life on Earth. There is hope, however: the winding links between climate, health, and well-being also present tremendous opportunities. What if, collectively, thought leaders, negotiators, practitioners, and policymakers in the climate, health, business, and international development communities could do a better job of advancing solutions that address these crises simultaneously? When climate, poverty alleviation, and human well-being are addressed together, a vision of a better future emerges like a beacon in the night.

Leaders from high-income countries—the source of most global emissions to date—reacted to the IPCC report with talk of bold actions, better collective efforts, and a renewed commitment toward decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning to cleaner energy, [but to date- Nov.16, 2024,the response has been insipid to say the least!] At the same time, low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) and island nations—all of which are extremely vulnerable to climate change—continue to demand compensation, support, and rapid reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from industrialized nations. Last month, Muhammad Nasheed (ex-president of Maldives) said that the world should not forget “the fundamental injustice at the heart of this emergency.” Given that LMICs are the most severely impacted by climate change—a scenario for which they are not responsible—it is important to ask how advocates ranging from youth leaders to government policymakers can build bridges that address climate change and the injustice of the climate emergency together.

People and institutions have historically avoided linking climate solutions and human well-being, but understanding how climate change compounds the risks facing the world’s most vulnerable populations is critical to understanding where the solutions lie. Recognizing this, Drawdown Lift—a program of our nonprofit Project Drawdown—was launched to identify and elevate “win-win” opportunities where initiatives and policies are making that critical connection. For more than three billion people—about half of the global population living in emerging economies—tackling climate change has become synonymous with addressing human rights, justice, and equity. Centering Basic Human Needs.......read on       https://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2021/09/desperate-hope-linking-human-well-being-climate-solutions/

"As conflict rages around the world, starvation has become a lethal weapon wielded by warring parties against international laws, causing an alarming rise in human deaths and suffering," said Emily Farr, Oxfam's food and economic security lead. "That civilians continue to be subjected to such slow death in the 21st Century is a collective failure." Farr added that "today's food crises are largely manufactured," noting that "nearly half a million people in Gaza—where 83% of food aid needed is currently not reaching them—and over three-quarters of a million in Sudan are currently starving as the deadly impact of wars on food will likely be felt for generations."

Oxfam, other humanitarian groups, and United Nations experts have accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of warfare against Gaza's population, much of which is facing famine conditions as the U.S.-armed Israeli military continues to obstruct the flow of lifesaving aid and attack food distribution centers. On Tuesday, Oxfam warned that northern Gaza "is being erased" and "civilians are being starved and bombed in their homes and their tents" by Israeli forces.

"This is not an evacuation—this is forced displacement under gunfire," Oxfam said. Across the globe, the number of people forcibly displaced by conflict reached a record 117.3 million last year, Oxfam's new report notes, "with 77% of them in countries affected by hunger crises." Oxfam observed that "war-displacement-hunger crises occur in countries that continue to rely heavily on primary product exports," highlighting the need for systemic changes to global food and economic systems in addition to more immediate diplomatic efforts to end military conflicts."Paradoxically, peacebuilding efforts have often assumed that economic liberalization offers the best or only pathway to sustainable peace," the report states. "Yet struggle for control over fungible primary commodities can fund more violence, increased inequality, continued instability, and the risk of renewed conflict." "Large-scale private investment—whether foreign or domestic in origin—adds to political economic instabilities where investors seize control over land and water resources and displace local peoples," the report continues. "Markets for high-value primary commodities need to be more carefully vetted and regulated, so they do not fund and fuel conflict."....read on    https://www.commondreams.org/news/global-hunger-report?utm_source=Common+Dreams&utm_campaign=03ea54a83a-Week+In+Review%3A+Sat.+10%2F19%2F24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-59f0163267-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D    ........AND........

Most wars of the late 20th and early 21st centuries have been “food wars”: food and hunger were used as weapons, food and food-related water and energy infrastructure were damaged intentionally or incidentally, and food insecurity persisted as a legacy of conflict destructiveness. Frequently, food insecurity, in turn, is a trigger or underlying cause of conflict. This paper analyzes 54 active conflict, refugee-hosting, and conflict legacy countries with populations in 2023 facing “crisis-level” acute food insecurity, i.e., at Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) 3 or higher. In total, nearly 278 million people in these countries faced crisis-level hunger in 2023, accounting for 99% of the global population at IPC 3+ (281.6 million people).                                 

Analysis indicates that war-displacement-hunger crises occur in countries that continue to rely heavily on primary product exports. Paradoxically, peacebuilding efforts have often assumed that economic liberalization offers the best or only pathway to sustainable peace. Yet struggle for control over fungible primary commodities can fund more violence, increased inequality, continued instability, and the risk of renewed conflict. Agricultural export commodities are important sources of revenue for smallholder farmers and governments in conflict-affected, food-insecure countries. The conflict implications of export- and food-crop value chains are therefore crucial for future food-wars policy discussions and actions. Some efforts seek to link export crops to efforts to achieve peace, sustainable livelihoods, and environmental restoration. Other proposed solutions focus on adopting more holistic national development strategies, including food-systems approaches that protect and promote the right to food and livelihood security, as well as policy approaches and frameworks that might more effectively consider conflict, globalization, and climate change in food and nutrition policy.   https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/food-wars-conflict-hunger-and-globalization-2022-2023-621657/   Click on this link to access the report- to download it, Adobe Acrobat is required

Water became a violent force tearing apart buildings, streets and neighborhoods, and drowning humans and animals, while winds toppled trees across the region, the grip of their roots weakened by the rain-saturated soil. Roads, bridges, transmission lines and crucial infrastructure were swept away or smashed. Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimate that “climate change may have caused as much as 50% more rainfall during Hurricane Helene in some parts of Georgia and the Carolinas. Furthermore, we estimate that the observed rainfall was made up to 20 times more likely in these areas because of global warming.”The sheer amount of water Helene dumped across its 500-mile path is staggering: 40tn gallons, one scientist calculated, the equivalent of pouring the entire contents of Lake Tahoe over the region, enough water to cover the entire state of North Carolina in water 3.5ft deep. “Water is life” became a key slogan at the Dakota Access pipeline protests in 2016, but it can also be a deadly force. One of the ironies of the current situation in Asheville, North Carolina, and other hurricane-and-flood-impacted towns is that water is everywhere – muddy, contaminated water – but with broken water mains, power outages and contaminated sources, water to drink and wash with is scarce.

There have been deluges in the region before, but this was a climate disaster. Around the world, catastrophic flooding is wrecking whole regions – perhaps the worst of all were the 2022 floods that covered a third of Pakistan, but the April-May floods in southern Brazil were a catastrophe that “displaced more than 80,000 people, led to over 150,000 being injured and, on the 29th of May, to 169 fatalities with 44 people still missing” as of June.Repeated floods in New England and the Houston region are among the US’s climate disasters, while the UK and continental Europe, Japan and several African nations, including Mozambique and Kenya this year, have been hit hard by flooding. Only last month, according to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, “In Chad, where an estimated 1.5 million people have been affected, initial assessments point to the destruction of over 164,000 homes.  Floods are not new, but the intensity and frequency of catastrophic flooding is. The climate crisis is a water crisis......read on    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/04/hurricane-helene-humanitarian-crisis-climate-disaster