Climate change, which has become a powerful driver of migration, is likely to push around 260 million people across six world regions to move within their countries by 2050, the World Bank (WB) said.

The Groundswell report by WB launched this week pointed out that the hotspots of internal climate migration could emerge as early as 2030 and continue to spread and intensify by 2050.

Although the implications stemming from climate change are becoming increasingly challenging for nations to tackle, immediate and concerted action to reduce global emissions, and support green, inclusive, and resilient development, could reduce the scale of climate migration by as much as 80 percent, the report said.

By 2050, Sub-Saharan Africa would see as many as 86 million internal climate migrants, while East Asia and the Pacific would see 49 million migrants, South Asia, 40 million, North Africa, 19 million; Latin America, 17 million; and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 5 million.

Climate change is recognized to be a powerful driver of internal migration due to its impacts on people’s livelihoods and loss of livability in highly exposed locations.