Perspective: Mass migrationMass Migration from Africa Likely as U.K. Government Invests in Satellite Monitoring of Vulnerable Countries

Climate change could bring mass migration from Africa and diseases, the U.K. Space Agency’s Chief Scientist has warned, as he said foreign aid was now being used to fund satellites which monitor vulnerable countries. 

Dr Chris Lee said global warming could lead to water shortages, droughts and famine, which could push vast numbers from their homes.

Sarah Knapton writes in The Telegraph that in an effort to help countries prepare for climate change, the government has invested £150 million over five years to set up programs, under the name International Partnership Program (IPP)—  which can monitor sea-level rise, crop failure, natural disasters, deforestation, coastal erosion, oil spillages, water shortages, and predict tsunamis and storm surge flooding.

The technology is also helping connect people in remote areas, and has already saved dozens of lives by helping victims of disasters or accidents contact the emergency services. 

But Dr Lee said it will also help Britain prepare for the devastation that climate change could bring at home.

“Satellite technology has allowed us to start thinking about prevention rather than reaction,” he told The Telegraph, adding:

There tends to be a feeling that satellites are only useful when disaster strikes but they can help drive policy in advance. 

Our climate is becoming ever hotter. Africa in particular is going to have a lot of migration as they find water more difficult to locate and purify.

What we want to do is help nations find that water themselves, find those reservoirs through satellite technology, rather than those nations getting nervous and then we will start having many migrants moving onto the European continent.

We’re looking at how meteorological data can assist the elimination of pest disease and we’re using satellite models to see how we might better target mosquitoes and dengue fever.

I’m not sure as time goes on whether we’re going to see those sorts of diseases in the U.K., but I am now aware of ticks when I’m walking through fields in a way I wasn’t five years ago.

And we can start to see how crop diseases will affect our own food baskets because we will not be able to feed ourselves, because either these crops that we take for granted now like cocoa, coffee will start to suffer from pests, or those pests will come into the U.K. and affect our crops. 

So we are helping those nations solve those challenges internally rather than exporting those challenges overseas. We are helping our self in the process.”