How will the poorest people cope with climate change?
Professor Sir John Beddington, the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser and Head of the Foresight programme, said: 'Environmental change threatens to have a profound impact on communities around the world – particularly in low income countries. However, this report finds that the nature of the global challenge goes beyond just focusing on those that might try to move away from areas of risk. Millions will migrate into - rather than away from - areas of environmental vulnerability, while an even bigger policy challenge will be the millions who will be "trapped" in dangerous conditions and unable to move to safety.
'The evidence is also clear that under some circumstances migration, particularly in low income countries, can transform a community's ability to cope with environmental change. The movement of individuals or small groups, even at a local or regional level, may increase the future resilience of large communities. This will reduce the risk of both humanitarian disasters and of potentially destabilising mass migration under high risk conditions.'