ISLAMABAD, Sept 23: Over a billion people, one in seven on earth, could be forced from their homes between now and 2050 if the climate change worsens.

This is the stark analysis of a UK development charity, the Christian Aid, whose latest report - based on UN population and climate change figures - says that conflict, large-scale development projects and widespread environmental deterioration “will combine to make life unsupportable for hundreds of millions of people, mostly in the Sahara belt, South Asia and the Middle East”.

The report - Human tide: the real migration crisis - warns that the world is now facing mass migration which will probably exceed that seen at the end of the Second World War. Climate change is likely to lead to expanding deserts which in turn could mean more forced migration.

“Forced migration is now the most urgent threat facing poor people in the developing world,” says lead author John Davison.

Over 155 million people are already displaced by conflicts, disasters and large-scale projects. —Our Reporter