In an interview with the UN news portal, the senior official acknowledged the increase in movements of people due to climate consequences as an increasingly common phenomenon.

“Last year, more people were displaced as a result of climate change than as a result of conflict, and that number will continue to grow. Therefore, we believe it is time for the world to take note and make investments in communities so that they can be more resilient to what is happening,” the expert proposed from COP19, held this week in the capital of Azerbaijan.

According to her predictions, the number of people affected in the future could be quite significant, reaching 260 million people by 2050.

However, she said, the good news is that the World Bank says that if we start taking action now to increase the resilience of communities, we can help defray up to 80 percent of that displacement.

Among other examples, Pope warned of recent phenomena such as flooding in Valencia, Spain; or Chad communities, where the impacts can be much more devastating.

The IOM director recognized the current context as the ideal one to act, calling migration a possible solution to the problem.

“We should think of migration in a comprehensive way, not just as a consequence of inaction, but as a way to enable communities to meet the demands of the future,” she said.

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