Large of numbers of people really leave home because of environmental Essay

Large of numbers of people really leave home because of environmental problems - Essay Example The environment is one of these developments that are influencing the movement of people from their homes. The environment encompasses a number of factors in it including climatic change (Schipper and Pelling, 2006). Most of these environmental factors are natural, and human beings do not have the ability to prevent them. The effects of these environmental factors are so severe that they force people flee their homes. The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) recent reports indicate that the number of environmental refugees has increased suggesting the severity of this matter. The factors that force people to move away from their homes can be summarized into two broad categories. These broad categories are climatic change factors and natural disasters. Climatic change accounts for the majority of environmental migration cases (Afolayan and Adelekan, 2009). Global warming affects the ecosystem, which leads to drying up of rivers and other sources of water. Individuals have no access to clean water to sustain their life. Others whose livelihoods come from farming have no water to irrigate their lands. Lack of water will force people to move to other locations that have adequate water. Climatic change affects health, availability of food and water, the ecosystem and the coastal regions, which affect the settlements of individuals. Food is a basic factor that is necessary for the survival of human beings. Most people especially in Africa depend on farming to provide them with food. Weather and climatic changes in some regions are becoming increasingly unpredictable nowadays due to degradation of the environment (Ezra, 2001). Individuals will move to other areas that are productive in terms of farming. Some areas are prone to diseases due to the environment. For instance, cold areas are breeding sites for mosquitoes. Rainfall causes development of swamps in some areas. These swamps create breeding sites for mosquitoes. Places