Sec. Of State Kerry: ‘We Have Climate Refugees Today’
Speaking Monday in Valparaiso, Chile, Secretary of State John Kerry was asked why the term "climate refugees" does not exist in international law.
Kerry said the question was "right on point," and although the term is a new one, he expects it's "just a matter of time" before it is incorporated into international policy.
"We have climate refugees today," Kerry told a town hall meeting on the sidelines of an Oceans conference.
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“There are people who have to leave where they were living because the drought is so significant they can’t grow food, or they’ve lost their water, or there are fights over wells in certain places and so they have to move in order to find a place. There are climate refugees in the world today — people who’ve had to move because of the rise of sea level or the changes in the thawing of the permafrost and so forth.
“Now, it hasn’t reached a crescendo. It’s not at a level where the international community has yet codified, put it into law,” he explained.
“But the day could come, if we don’t respond rapidly, you could have millions of climate refugees. You could have people moving from whole areas where today you can grow things and tomorrow you can’t.
