Giving Compass' Take:

• As storms, droughts, and sea level rise caused by climate change create conditions unsuitable for humans, migration will increase dramatically. 

• How can the world cope with an increase in refugees who will have no hope of returning to their homeland? How will policy at all levels of government hinder or facilitate relocation of immigrants?

• Learn how you can support refugees. 

Climate change will transform more than 143 million people into “climate migrants” escaping crop failure, water scarcity, and sea-level rise, a new World Bank report concludes.

Most of this population shift will take place in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America—three “hot spots” that represent 55 percent of the developing world’s populations.

This worst-case scenario is part of a ground-breaking study focused on the impacts of slow-onset climate, as opposed to more visibly dramatic events such as extreme storms and flooding. The report, Groundswell—Preparing for Internal Climate Migration, also shifts the focus from cross-border migration, which has drawn global attention as refugees and migrants flee war, poverty and oppression, to in-country migration, which involves many more millions of people on the move in search of viable places to live. The 143 million represent 2.8 percent of the three regions’ population.

Read more about climate migrants by Laura Parker at National Geographic