The Climate change and the rising food prices are some of the factors leading to the rise in global displacement to 11.4 million refugees world-wide up from 9.9 million last year, said a new report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The report says that the global impact of the environment on human livelihoods is creating a new kind of casualty, the environmental refugee. Rising sea levels, increasing de-sertification, weather-induced flooding and more frequent natural disasters have, and will increasingly, become a major cause of population displacement in several parts of the world.
There are now about 19.2 million people officially recognised as "persons of concern," that is, people likely to be displaced because of environmental disasters. This figure is predicted to grow to about 50 million by the end of 2010.