In 2080, ASEAN Heats Up Over Climate Refugees

By Liam Burrows

JAKARTA (UN Press Corps) - The devastating monsoons, tsunamis, and widespread flooding that have infected Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Singapore have torn the region, leaving only Indonesia and Philippines intact. The water levels have risen so much that islands like Andros and New Providence in the Caribbean have been completely submerged.

The state of destruction that these countries currently face shows how far behind we are in combating these natural disasters.moreover, the looming threat of climate change is ever growing and has raised the average temperature of the world by 8 degrees, creating higher tides and stronger water currents.

At the ASEAN, the delegate representing Indonesia was asked how the Philippines and Indonesia were able to remain safe while neighboring islands had fallen victim to these threats. The representative responded that, since 2040, Indonesia has been making strides in development and research surrounding agriculture and has produced environmental studies on protection against the future threats of the climate change that have been severely impacting the world.

Because of this global temperature shift, the term ‘Climate Refugee’ has been created  to describe individuals displaced as a result of climate change. This refugee conflict has had a sharp increase within the past few decades with the escalation of climate change, causing the numbers of displaced persons to rise and creating chaos in the various countries that must deal with this problem.

In an interview with the delegate of Vietnam, the representative held the stance that “We feel like there should be a program support based for them”. The delegate argued “it would make them feel a bit more comfortable”

No solution has been formulated as to where the refugees would stay, posing the more important question of how space would be allocated for the high influx of migrants, displaced by these disasters. This option and idea is a large contrast to the solution that the delegate representing Mongolia had, suggesting  the best option was to keep the ‘Climate Refugees’ within international territory and to prevent them from migrating to the poorer countries to avoid causing inconvenience for Mongolia or any other country currently suffering.

Overall, the problems that have been created in the wake of the rise in global warming have devastated smaller developing countries, leaving them to the wrath of monsoons, typhoons and major flooding. Solutions had been outlined by the delegate representing Vietnam had felt that there should be a support program for the ‘Climate Refugees’ who are trying to escape from their destroyed homes and find new countries to live in. In contrary to the stance held from the representative of Mongolia who had felt that the international community should accept and keep the ‘Climate Refugees’ until the countries in destruction can become more economically stable.