Drifting Futures, Shifting Earth -- 200 million people will be forced to move by 2050 (2050 projection)

Drifting Futures, Shifting Earth -- 200 million people will be forced to move by 2050 (2050 projection)

By 2050, 200 million people will be forced to move due to climate change. This shocking figure, based on reports from the United Nations International Organization for Migration and the World Bank, indicates that we have entered a phase in which the climate crisis will shake our homes to their very foundations. It is not a future story, but a reality that is underway from this very moment.

In Bangladesh, one-third of the country is affected by sea level rise and land subsidence, and approximately 130 million people could be displaced. In China, as many as 500 million people will be forced to migrate internally due to climate risks, and in India, nearly 1 billion people are projected to be exposed to high temperatures, drought, and water shortages.

The United States is no exception: as of 2020, 1.7 million people have already lost their homes to extreme weather events, and another 500,000 homes are at risk of permanent flooding annually. On Jean Charles Island in Louisiana, where the federal government has committed $48 million to relocate an entire community, "climate refugees" have actually emerged.

Behind these statistics is not just a question of numbers, but of life and death, culture and land, memory and future. In the past, humans migrated and evolved in response to climate. But what we are now facing is a "Great Climate Migration" of unprecedented scale and speed. The first signs of such a shift have already begun to appear in many parts of the world.

The rich are buying safe land and the poor are being left behind in danger zones. This new structure of disparity, also known as climate apartheid, is further deepening the division of society. Both the accepting and the displaced can no longer remain unaffected. The problem is not only climate. It is a question of human imagination, empathy, and ethics.

In this time of quiet upheaval, we are being questioned. It is not where we live, but with whom we live. How do we build a place of hope in a future of forced mobility? The answer lies not in statistics or technology, but in the imagination of each of us.