Climate Displacement in Ireland
- Apr 19, 2018
- 3 min read
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggest that increasing erratic weather conditions and ocean acidification are likely to continue and worsen in the coming decades as a result of climate change. We are already seeing the effects of inconsistent weather in Ireland with increasing rainfall, in particular in the North of the country and with the recent snowfall at the end of March of this year, and not forgetting storm Ophelia in October 2017 which lead to a complete shutdown of the country. People’s livelihoods, all around the world will be affected by climate change in the coming decades if not already. While the IPCC states that ‘low-income countries will remain on the frontline of human-induced climate change over the next century’, its effects are also felt by Western countries such as Ireland.
As a nation, much of our economic growth is dependant on the agricultural sector, our exports in particular. Farming practices appear to suffer the most from climate change incidents, both here in Ireland and much of the African continent where many people are dependent on crop growth and livestock to supply nutrition or income for their families and community. With regards to climate displaced people, there is a common conception that displacement as a result of significant climate impacts mainly occurs in developing countries or the Pacific Islands. This is not the case.
In late August 2017, Donegal (a county in the North West of Ireland) saw a record breaking amount of rainfall within a short time frame. The consequences of this were predominantly confined within the area around the Inishowen Peninsula. Met Eireann categorised this rainfall as a ‘once in a hundred years’ extreme weather event with 63mm of heavy rain suddenly falling within a six-hour period. This is largely above the average rainfall for a typical ‘rainy day’ which is currently 25mm in a 24-hour period. This intense rainfall created huge pressures on drainage systems and waterways as they were not adapted for such conditions which led to extensive flooding and landslides along with the damage of the structure of many primary roads and bridges.
The flooding impeded on many families and businesses with many buildings completely destroyed or damaged beyond feasible repair. As a direct result of this, 47 families were registered as internally displaced and offered ‘long term temporary accommodation’. Donegal County Council released a statement on the matter adding that the displaced people may be ‘unable to return to their homes for some time’. Upon a visit to the area from the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, additional funds were to be made to local councils in order to quickly repair the damage that had been caused by this unusual weather incident.
In sum, we may associate the impacts of climate change to be felt mostly by developing countries, but this is not true. Climate change is happening here in Ireland and people have been displaced as a result, luckily our government we proactive on this issue and they had funds available to help rebuild the affected area. Climate displacement is likely to increase as the environmental situation worsens and procedures need to be in place. In Donegal, homes were lost, agricultural livestock were found deceased due to the extreme flooding and businesses were closed for some time. With Storm Ophelia and the recent heavy snowfall, schools and third level institutes all over Ireland were shut down, thus impeding the education of hundreds of thousands of people. Even in a developed country such as Ireland, livelihoods and education have been hugely affected by climate change.
We as global citizens have a responsibility which is to ensure a more equal world for all. When people are displaced as a result of climate change, we need to advocate that they be given rights and recognition, be that in Ireland and the West or lower-income countries.
This is Not My Planet advocates for climate displaced people to have the right to seek asylum as a result of climate changes which have resulted in an individual’s displacement and inability to provide the basic needs as outlined under international law. Currently, no such right has been ratified or attributed to those who are in need. Climate change is happening today, affecting millions of people. It’s not an issue of the developing world, it is already impacting us and these ‘once in a hundred years’ erratic weather events may be something we experience more frequently thus measures and policies need to be in place for individuals displaces as a result of climate change.
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