Migrations - Some official statistics

The Harper government is so secretive with facts that might prove politically awkward or embarrassing if disclosed, that we must turn to official UN agencies to find the truth. 

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a useful source. I learnt from IOM that I am one of 21 thousand Australians who has migrated to Canada. Almost 11 thousand have migrated to Canada from New Zealand, Wendy's homeland. According to IOM, as of 30 June 2015, i.e. in the first six months of 2015, Italy, including Sicily and the tiny island of Lampadusa, had received 114 thousand migrants who have arrived by sea across the Mediterranean; several thousand died trying, mostly by drowning, some asphyxiated after being locked in confined spaces, e.g. refrigerated trucks, sealed ships' holds. The land route into western Europe runs through Greece and the Balkans. More than 235 thousand migrants used the land route through Greece in the first six months of 2015. Greece's task has not been made easier by the German bankers who demand repayment in full of loans to Greece.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is another useful resource. I've been observing UNHCR's work and using their statistics for many years (I've contributed to UNHCR as a charitable cause for more than 30 years). One UNHCR statistic I've often quoted is the rapidly rising number of environmental refugees. The number rose from 5 million to 47 million between 2005 and 2010; it has risen more sharply since 2010. Late in 2015 there are more than 60 million refugees but I can't find a table that dissects them into refugees from conflict, habitat loss, etc. The appalling carnage of the Syrian civil war was sparked initially by habitat loss after an unprecedented prolonged drought attributable to climate change. This led directly to a rural-to-urban migration of about 1.5 million Syrian farm families whose formerly fertile land had turned to desert.

The present Canadian government has been obstructive and secretive, delaying action on specific requests from families and church-based groups, refusing to disclose the actual numbers, releasing figures that are misleading, inconsistent or both. Harper boasts that no country is doing as much as Canada, a blatant falsehood. A spokesman for one of the charitable organizations said that as far as he could determine, fewer than 500 claims for refugee status are being processed (painfully slowly) and the number actually brought to Canada under direct government sponsorship or in process of being brought here, is 59. Germany has received over 100,000 refugees from Iraq and Syria, and Sweden, with a population of less than a quarter of Canada's, has taken in 60,000. When our present political leaders lie to us so shamefully I wonder why they expect us to vote them back into office. The Harper government's contribution to the Middle East crisis is 6 fighter-bombers and a campaign of obstruction and lies. Recent news also included information that a Canadian air strike earlier this year led to a record number of civilian deaths. The actions of the Harper government contrast very sharply with the response of Joe Clark's PC Government to the refugee crisis of the 'Boat People' after the fall (or liberation) of Vietnam. Some 60,000 or more were brought to Canada in the space of a few weeks.

Why do people migrate? Stated at the most simplistic, they are either pulled or pushed.  The incentive to leave a familiar homeland, to uproot, is absence of opportunities for advancement, promotion, or even survival in the homeland.  Habitat loss is becoming a 'push' factor in a world of rising sea levels, desertification, shrinking resources. This set of problems often leads to social unrest, political instability, persecution of minorities. The dustbowl years of the 1930s caused habitat loss in some marginal  agricultural regions of USA, leading to some population redistribution. I think we are beginning to see evidence of another trend, a larger region of habitat loss, drought in California which shows signs of a longterm or permanent climatic shift. By the middle decades of the 21st century the south-west corner of USA will probably be unable to sustain even half its current population. California is richer in all resources needed for prosperity except the one essential ingredient, fresh water for drinking and irrigation. Perhaps desalination technology will develop in time to replace depleted freshwater. If it doesn't, millions will be forced to emigrate from California as it transforms into a waterless desert.

Viewed as a biological phenomenon, the turbulent movement of people around the world, often accompanied by violence and armed conflict, is a collective response to the need for resources essential for survival. Currently humanity is living in ecological deficit. Every year the deficit between numbers of people and available resources of drinking water and food grows larger. Many of the world's most intractable conflicts are ultimately attributable to this deficit. The relentlessly increasing size of this deficit is a reliable predictor of future unrest and conflict.