Environmental refugees may be defined as people who can no longer gain a basic fundamental livelihood in their traditional homelands, because of environmental degradation and unemployment. At the moment there are 25 million environmental refugees and growing, especially in the developing world. Unemployment is already at 25% of the workforce, or about 750 million unemployed, slightly exceeding the entire workforce of the developed world. The creation of such refugees maintains and promotes social unrest, and the world will necessarily have to address the issue.
It is estimated that if the developing world is to provide employment for the newborns, they will have to generate 40 million jobs per year on average.