S1E126: Managing climate driven migration demands a new paradigm

Humans can and must cooperate to manage climate-driven mass
migration, as a heating planet forces the poor and vulnerable,
particularly in the global south, to move in order to
survive. 


Every first and third Sunday of the month, The Straits Times
analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity
conservation to climate change.


The concept of the modern nation state is a relatively recent
construct, and distorts humans' innate capacity - notwithstanding
our tribalism - to cooperate. Yet, a collective response is
necessary to manage the mass migration of the most vulnerable
groups of people in poorer countries escaping from the adverse
effects of climate change, said award-winning writer Gaia
Vince. 


In this episode of Green Pulse, the author of Adventures in the
Anthropocene and Nomad Century tells Nirmal Ghosh that the
solution to dealing with looming mass emigration of desperate
climate refugees is to redefine the concept of nations and
citizenship, rather than turn them away. 


But nationalism defined in terms of ethnicity  - also known
as ethnonationalism - is on the rise across the globe, observes
Ms Vince. She argues that there is no basis for different races
as the collective fate of societies is shared by global citizens
of planet earth.  


Highlights of conversation (click/tap above):


2:02 "When a severe storm hit New York City, it was the poor
black people living in basement apartments who drowned and died"
- how climate change has a threat multiplier effect for the
poorest and the most marginalised 


5:02 Ethno-nationalism is a social disease - it's not based on
biology 


6:48 Climate change will only be solved when the human race come
together as a species and address these global issues


13:46 Why easing human labour across borders can help to make
emigration more gradual and safer 


17:20 Why our human food system, rather than climate change,
makes the biggest assault on biodiversity loss


Produced by: Nirmal Ghosh (nirmal@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis,
Fa'izah Sani and Hadyu Rahim


Edited by: Hadyu Rahim


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