A recent report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization states that studying trends linked to water scarcity could help communities to adapt and release stress from migration. By sharing good water-saving practices and skills, and by using remittances for managing water resources, improvements can be made to reduce the negative impacts.
Lack of access to clean, abundant sources of fresh water create trying challenges to two-thirds of the world’s population, which can induce an increasing number of people to leave and migrate other communities. The report says that that people who depend on agriculture — who also tend to be the poorest — are the most likely to be affected.
According to the report:
Recent papers demonstrate that a combination of higher temperatures and rainfall extremes are correlated with increases in migration rates away from areas where these changes can be observed. This being said, the causal interaction of temperature, water stress and migration is still not clearly understood. More systematic studies are needed.
As pressure from climate and water crises mount, the need to address the pressure to migrate globally will continue. “But migration should be a choice, and not the only remaining option,” said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.