A man delivers his goods through a flooded street in Mumbai, India. Photo: Hussain_Quantum (flickr)

It should be no surprise that armed conflicts force millions of people from their homes each year. In fact, 4.6 million people were displaced by conflict and war in 2008. But I was shocked to learn that the number of people displaced by climate change is four-times greater than those displaced by conflict. That's about 20 million people — roughly the population of Australia — that have been forced to relocate because of natural disasters like flooding, earthquakes and storms.

This figure comes from a joint study by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre and is the first large-scale look at how climate change is effecting human populations. It provides data on exactly how carbon emissions have affected human lives, and it offers a somewhat harsh glimpse into what will happen if the situation is left unchecked.

Photo: CARF Brazil (flickr)

War. Famine. Persecution. These are some of the ways thousands of families flee their countries each year and get separated in the process. So how do they reconnect?

Until now, their best bet was to seek help from the the Red Cross. Refugees submit an application to their local Red Cross office, which is disseminated to field workers from the charity's Geneva headquarters. Field workers attempt to find the missing family members using the information provided. A lot of people have been reunited this way, but the process can be lengthy.

Danish brothers Christopher and David Mikkelsen thought there had to be a better way, one that cut out the middleman. Inspired by social-networking sites like Myspace and Facebook, they came up with the idea for Refugees United. To get started, users just register and start searching in one of more than 20 languages.

One of the biggest hurdles Refugees United must overcome is the limited Internet access in rural areas and refugee camps. The Mikkelsens hope to solicit donations of computers for refugee camps and build a website that can be viewed on basic mobile phone platforms.

Hundreds of refugees have signed up so far, a number that would be hardly noticeable to social networking giants. But to the Mikkelsens, the number is encouraging. "If we can just unite that number of people," Christopher says, "we would be a great success."