**Winds Cross Borders - The Intersection of Climate Change and the Great Human Migration (Early 21st Century)***

**Winds Cross Borders - The Intersection of Climate Change and the Great Human Migration (Early 21st Century)***
'You could be one of them, or you could be in a position to embrace them. The backdrop was the early 21st century, especially from the late 2010s through the 2020s, when the climate crisis was rapidly manifesting itself both scientifically and socially: in 2015, the Paris Agreement was adopted and 196 countries made international commitments to reduce greenhouse gases and promote adaptation measures. However, it also exposed the instability of international cooperation, as the United States announced its temporary withdrawal from the agreement in 2017, delaying its implementation in some countries.

During the same period, disasters occurred frequently around the world: forest fires in Australia in 2019-2020 burned vast ecosystems, and record rainfall and cyclones in South Asia in 2020 led to the evacuation of millions of people in Bangladesh and coastal India. In eastern Africa, droughts persisted, leading to a food crisis and widespread social unrest. These accelerated cross-border population movements and demonstrated the reality of climate change hitting living areas.

Meanwhile, the declining birthrate and aging population and labor shortages worsened in the developed countries of the Northern Hemisphere, forcing Japan, Spain, Germany, and other countries to accept immigrants to sustain their economies. In the United States, too, domestic population movements surged after disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and Maria, revealing the interplay between climate change and demographics.

The development of related technologies also underpinned this period of change. Climate monitoring by earth observation satellites captured signs of extreme weather events, and supercomputer simulations provided highly accurate risk assessments of flooding and sea level rise. In addition, host countries and cities have developed water- and heat-resistant building technologies, renewable energy-based power grids, AI-based migrant allocation optimization systems, and smart cities. These technologies and policies reduced the disruption of large-scale migration and provided the foundation for building a sustainable society.