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This is the podcast edition of BBC Inside Science, first broadcast on Thursday 31st August

2023. I'm Guy Evans. Hello, we've had a summer of extreme events across the globe

with record-breaking temperatures on land and sea. It's likely that you know someone

who has been affected by heat waves, fires or floods, perhaps your holiday was disrupted,

or perhaps you were forced to evacuate because of dangerous conditions. Last year, 32.6

million people were displaced by disasters, more than through conflict. And as the world

becomes hotter, these numbers will only rise. More of us will have to move for safety.

This is a glimpse into the heart of Canada's wildfire crisis, an inferno consuming everything

in its path. Some areas of Florida could see not just five or ten, but 15 feet of storm

surge, and they're warning that surge is likely not survivable.

It's like a war zone there. The town of Lahaina has been completely reduced to rubble.

From this week's Inside Science, we'll be looking at what climate displacement means

for people all over the world, from entire tropical island populations who've already begun

to evacuate, to much closer to home, where coastal communities are also under threat from

rising sea levels. We'll also be exploring how we can best respond.

While joining me to discuss all of these issues, our Richard Betts, head of climate impact

at the UK Met Office in Exeter, Guillermo Reyn, an expert in fire safety at Imperial College,

and Lucy Easthope, a leading advisor on emergency planning and disaster recovery. Welcome

all. Guillermo, just this month, we've seen the huge scale of the devastation caused

by fires in Hawaii, an entire town reduced to ashes, and in Canada, cities have been forced

to evacuate. Well, British holiday makers have had to flee parts of Tenerife and Greek

...