Story highlights Hillary Clinton said climate change is a contributing factor to refugee crises

Civil war in Syria and the rise of ISIS have led to a mass exodus from the Arab nation

Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) Climate change is a contributing factor in the world's most dire refugee crises, including the one in Syria, Hillary Clinton said in Iowa Tuesday.

Clinton was asked at a town hall in Coralville about what the United States can do about refugee crises in Syria and Africa. After a long answer on Syria, including calling for a international conference organized by the United Nations to address the issue, the former secretary of state and 2016 candidate turned to the causes of refugee crises.

"We have to ask ourselves: Why is this happening?" Clinton said. "Because of terrible governance, because of corruption, because of conflict, because of climate change, there are so many reasons why people are being, in their minds, forced to leave and try to get to safety."

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"I'm really glad that there's conversations going on now to try to figure out how to end the conflict, or at least get a ceasefire in Syria, because if you can find some safe spaces in Syria, maybe people will not leave," Clinton added. "They don't want to leave. If you hear the interviews with refugees, they don't want to leave. They feel compelled to leave."