Al Gore Warns of Climate Refugees as Planet Warms

Climate change will lead to people fleeing countries plagued by extreme heat in the future, former Vice President Al Gore said in a new interview.

Gore spoke with Think Progress and said climate refugees could number in the tens of millions.

"The Max Planck Institute and others are now saying that some significant regions of the Middle East and North Africa may become uninhabitable because of the rise in both the temperature and humidity, and that will increase the flows of refugees," Gore said.

"Africa by mid-century will have more people than either China or India, and by the end of the century more people than India and China combined."

Gore pointed to a U.N. study which suggested "20 million people [are] on the verge of famine. So, we're going to have to prepare for it, and that means insulating our structures of governance against the kind of disruption that we have seen in some European countries."

Gore said last week the upcoming months will be a "challenging time" for Americans under President Donald Trump's leadership, citing America's withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement and other issues.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in June Trump believes in climate change and thinks humans play a part in it.

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