Beyond Conflict, Water Stress Contributed to Europe’s Migration Crisis | World Resources Institute
▻http://www.wri.org/blog/2015/11/beyond-conflict-water-stress-contributed-europe%E2%80%99s-migration-crisis
Conflict in the Middle East and Africa is driving a human tsunami that has sent 500,000 people into Europe this year in the worst migration crisis since World War II. The four-year-old civil war in Syria has been the single biggest driver of the surge: more than 4 million have fled the conflict, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Syrians made up a third of those crossing the Mediterranean in the first six months of 2015, the largest group by country of origin, followed by Afghans and Eritreans.
Beyond conflict, there is another contributing factor: water scarcity.
A well-documented path can connect water scarcity to food insecurity, social instability and potentially violent conflict. As climate change amplifies scarcity worries, more secure water supplies could help the lives of millions in conflict zones.