The people of Fairborn have been labeled “climate crisis refugees,” because their hometown is disappearing beneath the waves.
It happened in July 2021. The first global news for The city that succumbed to the climate crisis Came from Canada. After being completely devoured by forest fires, Totally ruined Leighton. All the people who lived there had to flee forever, leaving behind the corpses of houses that were engulfed in flames.
Some media thought this could be the first example – the typical case, even – of what the future is Cities under the influence of climate change. A year later, a similar phenomenon occurred in the Welsh city of Fairborn in the north of the United Kingdom. close to the sea, disappear under the waves.
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Buried under the waves of the sea advance
In the 2016 census, Fairborn reported a population of only 714. Six years later, the people who live there are looking for new alternatives: Enjoying the sea view is no longer favorable to them. On the contrary, as a result of rising sea levels, the The waves are gaining space to urban.
Even in 2014, Gywnedd City Council, which oversees Fairbourne, had already discovered levels The sea was rising to alarming levels:
«[La institución] He said that he would not maintain the flood defenses indefinitely and that from 2054 the village would be uninhabitable. The council plans to “disassemble” the entire town, dismantle all the homes, roads, shops and infrastructure, and return it to a quagmire.” BBC.
Despite institutional pressure, the people of Fairborn They refuse to lose their lands. Instead, they organized locally to file formal complaints with the local government, Against his plan to “dismantle” the city. However, some have chosen to move to a place where they are less vulnerable.
In the face of the crisis, local authorities have called on Fairborn residents to “Climate crisis refugees“.
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before the end of the century
Even with resistance from local residents, public officials remain firm in their solution. More than anything else, because the trend suggests that Fairborn will be Completely covered by the sea Before the end of this century:
“The latest forecast is that the defense of Fairborn after 2054 will not be safe or sustainable,” a Gwynedd City Council spokesperson explains.
At this rate, government spending to save people’s homes would also be unsustainable. according to Natural Resources Wales (NRW)the foundation responsible for caring for climate victims, in 2017 alone, millions of pounds were allocated to it Save 400 homes in coastal communities.
Given the erratic behavior of changes in the environment around the world, and the increasing strength of natural disasters, this figure It will increase steadily in the near future. For their part, the people of Fairborn fear for their economic, labor and housing stability, as there is nothing to guarantee them that in another city. They will be able to enjoy a standard of living yet.
So they also do not want to leave their hometown. exactly the contrary, They refuse to let it sink under the sea.
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Millions of Climate Victims
Like Fairborn, other coastal communities in the UK have had to do so Move to avoid the defects of the sea. globally, according to mathematical calculations From the World Bank, about 216 million people would be in the same situation: looking for a place to go, Because their country of origin is no longer habitable.
So far, serious studies indicate that if the consumption trend is not reversed, the The collapse of civilization will come by 2040. For his part, the 2022 Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Set a deadline of 2025 for Carbon emissions are at an all-time high. After that, they will have to go down hard to Avoid a global environmental catastrophe.
At first it was Lytton. Now, it’s Coastal communities in the UK, plus all the other cities that have been hit by the climate crisis. All of them contribute to The number of climate victims is exaggerated.
Meanwhile, sea levels rising.
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