Dire warning: Climate change may displace up to 200 million

(CNN) — A new kind of refugee is on the rise. And by 2050, there could be as many as 200 million of them.

They are not fleeing despicable acts of violence or persecution but the very land and water on which their livelihoods depend. They are some of the world’s poorest, forced from their homes by global climate change.

Alarmed by the predictions on climate refugees, humanitarian agencies warn that recent gains in the fight against poverty could vanish unless issues of forced migration become an integral part of the dialogue on global warming.

“What can we say? This is not a pretty picture,” said Charles Ehrhart, climate change coordinator for CARE International.

CNN