OMNI
CLIMATE REFUGEES ANTHOLOGY #1
November 19, 2022
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and
Ecology
https://Omnicenter.org/donate/
CONTENTS (two short intro. essays, 2022 Google
search, 3 books)
Eve Andrews,
Staff Writer. “What is a ‘climate
refugee’ and how many are there?” Grist,
Jun 20, 2019.
Atossa
Araxia Abrahamian . “Warming to Climate Refugees?” The
Nation (Feb. 17, 2020).
Google
Search 4-24-22
Books
Robert McLeman. Climate and
Human Migration. 2013.
Simon Behrman and Aviden Kent. Climate Refugees: Beyond the Legal Impasse? 2018.
Giovannni Sciaccaluga. International Law and the Protection of
Climate Refugees. 2020.
TEXTS
[This essay sifts basic issues. --Dick]
Eve Andrews
Staff Writer for Grist.
What is a ‘climate refugee’ and how many are there? Jun 20, 2019.
https://grist.org/article/climate-refugee-number-definition/
Putting numbers to the problem doesn’t capture
the nuances of how a changing climate changes people's lives.
Q. Dear Umbra,
How many climate
refugees are there?
Worried About Number
of Dying Earth’s Refugees
A. Dear WANDER,
You actually raise two important questions here: One, do we know how many people have
been forced to relocate due to climate change? And two, what should we be
calling them?
Debating semantics may seem useless when we’re
talking about the future of our planet and its people. But the words we choose
can greatly influence the actions we are inspired to take in response.
There are pros and cons to calling those
forced to move due to climate change “refugees.” On the one hand, it certainly communicates
the urgency of the climate situation — ecosystems are changing so quickly and
so unprecedentedly that many people don’t recognize the places they once called
home. (And not in a “this neighborhood’s been taken over by yuppies!” way; in
a, “wow, it’s too hot to breathe” way.) The word “refugee” fits the idea of
millions of people being forced to leave their homes due to climate change, and
that is certainly a convincing argument that we are facing a dire, global
emergency.
But then there’s the way that the word
“refugee” is used to stir up xenophobia. In fact, all you have to do is turn on
cable news to hear some politician or pundit avidly fearmongering about
Salvadoran or Syrian or Sudanese refugees pounding at the borders of wealthier
(read: whiter) nations. Instead of inspiring people to do something proactive
about climate change, like vote, or roll your car into a ditch, the idea of so
many people displaced by global warming can be weaponized into a rationale for
border walls, military action, or other forms of protectionism.
In other words, we’re at a very, very weird
moment in the trajectory of climate change awareness. With many people already
suffering from climate consequences and many, many more poised to join them, we
must convince those in resource-chugging countries to take action without
inflaming their, at times misinformed, sense of self-preservation. The scale of
action that must be taken is both overwhelming and overdue, and it requires
seeing ourselves as a global community. But it’s an incredibly complicated
thing to do, and we must choose our words wisely, as pedantic as that can seem.
Now to the numbers part of your question: The Institute for
Economics and Peace, an Australian think tank, recently estimated that
in 2017 alone, 18 million people — 61.5 percent of global displacements — were
forced to move due to natural disasters. (Those natural disasters are not
universally caused by climate change, but global warming is predicted to cause
more frequent and intense disasters.) And while projections vary, sources agree
that those numbers are going to get a whole lot higher. That same report noted
that nearly 1 billion people currently live in areas of “very high” or “high”
climate exposure, which could result in millions of people displaced by climate
change in the future. A 2018 World Bank report estimated that by 2050, there would be 143 million climate change-driven migrants
from the regions of Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and southeast Asia
alone.
But, if we’re talking about legally designated
“climate refugees,” there’s a much different number being thrown around: zero.
That’s because “refugee” has a specific legal
definition with certain criteria that need to be met to be able to apply for
asylum in a new country, including religious and/or social persecution. And
most legal scholars and international lawyers will say that most people who
move or are forced to move due to climate disasters are not technically
refugees because most of those criteria don’t apply to them.
In 2015, Ioane
Teitiota, a man from the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati, applied for asylum as a refugee in New Zealand under the claim that he and
his family were endangered by rising seas swallowing their home. The claim was
rejected by New Zealand courts on the grounds that it was still possible to
live within the nation of Kiribati, regardless of whether his
particular home had been rendered uninhabitable.
Now, there is the theory of climate change as
a “risk multiplier,” meaning that natural disasters such as droughts or
hurricanes can further destabilize already shaky states of peace, triggering
wars or other violent conflicts. By that logic, those displaced by
climate-driven or -worsened conflicts could qualify legally as refugees.
But some legal advocates worry that waiting
for those forced into precarious situations by climate change to technically
qualify for refugee status misses the point entirely. “We don’t want to wait
until people can qualify as refugees before we act,” said Lauren Nishimura, a
human rights attorney and current Ph.D. student at Oxford University. “That’s
just silly when we know these things” — referring to climate displacement and
climate disasters — “are happening now.”
So, to
recap, trying to find the words to describe those impacted by the current
climate crisis is fraught, both politically and legally. And according to
Nishimura, putting numbers to the problem doesn’t capture the nuances
associated with climate-driven movement either.
Climate displacement can be forced by the
worst circumstances — think people facing famine, lack of water, conflict, or
their homes literally ending up underwater — and many communities
worst-impacted by climate change have had the smallest roles in creating the
climate problem. But there are also groups who have the means to move before
things get really bad, and there’s an argument for those “early decision”
migrants, we could call them, actually improving overall climate resilience.
And then there are those who see their communities collapse around them, and
still don’t have the resources to move at all.
Instead of getting wrapped up in the
definition of who can qualify for asylum, Nishimura advocates for climate solutions that focus on human
rights: securing livelihoods for those forced to move due to climate change,
developing infrastructure to ease the lives of those unable to move, and
building capacity in places that will be destinations for climate migrants.
One barrier to building that kind of
infrastructure and programming and capacity is cost, of course. That requires
tackling the question of who should pay for the plight of the
climate-vulnerable. Again, the nations most impacted by climate disasters are
usually those least equipped to adapt to it.
Maxine Burkett,
professor of law at the University of Hawaii and global fellow at the Wilson
Center, used “climate-vulnerable” in a legal article she wrote in 2009 that
seeded the idea of climate reparations. (That idea went on to be instrumental
in the ‘loss and damages’ component of the Paris Agreement, which
concerns the transfer of resources from wealthy countries to developing
countries to compensate them for climate harm.) I asked her why she chose that
term in particular.
“I don’t see
vulnerability as inherent — it’s an external factor that needs to be
addressed,” she said over the phone. “Why are people so differentially
impacted? What were the root causes of it? And frankly, how do we take this up
in our decision-making moving forward?”
Since
Burkett wrote that paper in 2009, there’s been very little meaningful action to
rectify those inequalities. Meanwhile, the climate crisis has accelerated at an
astonishing speed. So that brings us back to this weird, terrible moment of
climate reality we’re in: Those in powerful positions have long known about the
human impacts of the crisis — they just didn’t do anything about it when it
would have been most helpful to act. We’re already playing catch-up. What’s to
be done?
I think an absolute basic foundation for
trying to wrap your head around the idea of “climate displacement” and “climate
refugees,” WANDER, is to understand the history of the climate situation we’re
in. Wealthy, industrialized countries produce the lion’s share of the emissions
that have led to our current crisis. Less industrialized, poorer nations are
now paying the price in the form of climate transformations and resource
scarcity. That seems really, really unfair, right? Maybe those wealthy
countries have some historical obligation to help those they’ve harmed?
Maybe these aren’t “climate refugees” or
“climate migrants” or “climate victims,” but rather people who deserve some
justice?
Neighborly,
Umbra
Support solutions-based climate news
The only newsroom
focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and
justice. Our in-depth approach to solutions-based journalism takes time
and proactive planning, which is why Grist depends on reader support. Your
gifts keep our unbiased, nonprofit news site free. Donate today, to support the climate news you can trust.
Atossa Araxia Abrahamian . “Warming to
Climate Refugees?” The Nation (Feb. 17, 2020).
IIoane Teitiota of Kiribati struggled for
years to become the first formally recognized climate refugee, but was rejected
finally by the UN Human Rights Committee.
However the UNHRC did recognize the reality of refugees fleeing climate-based
dangers. The author urges readers to
join an international movement to vote nationalists out of office and into
office politicians who will vigorously support refugees, for example with
special visas for people fleeing massive floods and fires, or seizure of the
assets of carbon emitters.
Google Search 4-24-22
Although
we refer to climate refugees, the concept does not entirely exist in
international refugee law. Those who leave their countries in the context
of climate change or disasters do not qualify for protection under international
law.
Climate
Refugees - Refugees International Reports
https://www.refugeesinternational.org/climate-change (202) 828-0110
Read about efforts to
close the gap in international law that ignores climate
refugees.
Get involved with one
of our global programs, here.
Watch Out Impact Over
Three Decades Of Providing Lifesaving Advocacy.
Search for articles
& reports on refugee crises by region.
Stay up to date on current issues with Refugee's
International.
By 2050, 200 Million Climate Refugees May Have Fled
Their...
Ad·https://www.insideclimatenews.org/
A Pulitzer Prize-winning, non-profit, non-partisan news
organization dedicated to covering
There Could Be 143 Million Climate Change
Refugees by 2050
https://www.globalcitizen.org/
Join Global Citizen
and take action to protect all people impacted by conflict and crisis.
People
also ask
What
rights do climate refugees have? What is
climate refugee status?
Who
is responsible for climate refugees? How
many climate refugees are there 2021?
Feedback
Resolution 2307 (2019) - A legal status for
“climate refugees”
http://assembly.coe.int ›
xml › XRef
3. The Assembly considers
that the absence of a legally binding definition
of “climate refugees” does not preclude the
possibility of developing specific ...
Climate change and disaster displacement – UNHCR https://www.unhcr.org › en-us › climate-change-and-di...People
may have a valid claim for refugee status, for
example, where the adverse effects of climate change
interact with armed conflict and violence.
Climate Change, Migration, and Immigration Law -
The ...https://www.theregreview.org ›
2020 › November › 19 Nov 19, 2020 — Some
climate migrant advocates argue against “reducing” the issue of climate migration
to a “climate refugee” status.
The Future of “Climate Refugees” in
International Law
https://voelkerrechtsblog.org ›
the-future-of-climate-ref...
Jun 5, 2021 — Although
people fleeing from places, where they face risks arising from the impacts
of climate change, are often referred to as “climate ...
Climate refugees 'seeking asylum' in international lawhttps://www.aa.com.tr ›
environment › climate-refugees...Jun 20, 2021 — Although
the number of people fleeing lands because of climate change-related effects
has increased, neither climate refugees nor
environmental ...
UN ruling on
climate refugees could be gamechanger for ...https://www.climatechangenews.com ›
2020/01/29 › un...Jan 29, 2020 — Teitiota
did not
become the world's first climate refugee, but
the committee's ruling essentially recognized that climate
refugees do exist,
The implications of the UN's ruling on 'climate
refugees'https://www.die-gdi.de › ... ›
The Current Column Although it is not legally binding,
the UN Human Rights Committee ruling is the first to address someone's attempt
to be granted refugee status due to the ...
Legal Status and Legal Treatment of
Environmental Refugeeshttps://www.ipcc.ch ›
apps › srex › njlite_download(including
international refugee law), international environmental law (including climate change law) as
well as international norms on civil protection and ...
By 2050, 200 Million Climate Refugees May Have Fled Their
...https://insideclimatenews.org ›
NewsNov 2, 2021 — Little or No Protection
Under Existing Laws. The 1951 Refugee Convention
has been signed by most countries in the world. · The Paris Agreement
is ...
What Is A
Climate Refugees? - Who Are Climate Refugees?
·https://www.thesolutionsproject.org/
Who And What Are Climate Refugees? Learn More About
Them And What Problems They Face Here.
Climate
Refugees - The Solution Isn't Simple
https://www.refugeesinternational.org/
By
2050, 200 Million Climate Refugees May Have Fled Their...
https://www.insideclimatenews.org/
A
Pulitzer Prize-winning, non-profit, non-partisan news organization dedicated to
covering. climate change, energy and the environment. Get the
latest news from Inside Climate News.
Climate change and disaster displacement - UNHCR
https://www.unhcr.org ›
en-us › climate-change-and-di...
Refugees,
internally displaced people (IDPs) and the stateless are on the frontlines of
the climate emergency. Many are living in climate “hotspots”, ...
Climate Refugees https://www.climate-refugees.orgClimate Refugees is a research and advocacy organization that calls
for the protection of those displaced by climate change.The Problem · Climate
displacement in the field · Drought Displacement in Somalia
There could be 1.2 billion climate refugees by 2050.
Here's ... ttps://www.zurich.com › media ›
magazine › there-co...
Sep 27, 2022 — Extreme weather, rising seas and damaged ecosystems could
threaten the safety and livelihoods of billions of people.
Climate refugees – the world's forgotten victimshttps://www.weforum.org ›
agenda › 2021/06 › climate...Jun
18, 2021 — The term “climate refugees” was first coined to describe the increasing large-scale
migration and cross-border mass movements of people that ...Climate migrants: when your house is no longer homeNov 15,
2021How climate change
exacerbates the refugee crisisJun
20, 2019More results from www.weforum.org
The climate crisis, migration, and refugees - Brookings
Institutionhttps://www.brookings.edu ›
research › the-climate-cris...
Jul 25, 2019 — While climate
migrants who flee unbearable conditions
resemble refugees, the legal protections afforded to refugees do not extend to
them. In ...
The Refugees The World Barely Pays Attention To
- NPR
https://www.npr.org ›
goatsandsoda › 2018/06/20 › the-r...
Jun 20, 2018 — Climate refugees pose a number of unique challenges for
international policymakers compared to those displaced by persecution, the
traditional ...
Climate Refugees | Video Project
https://www.videoproject.org ›
... › global studies
Climate Refugees is the first feature film to explore in-depth the
global human impact of climate change and its serious destabilizing effect on ...
Climate Refugees (2010) – IMDb https://www.imdb.com › title
Michael Nash has crafted
a fantastic documentary using a cast of colorful and informative scientists,
politicians and other experts on our changing climate, ...
Rating: 7.9/10 · 110 votes
By 2050, 200 Million Climate Refugees May Have Fled Their
...https://insideclimatenews.org ›
News Nov 2, 2021 — By 2050, 200 Million Climate Refugees May Have Fled Their Homes. But International Laws
Offer Them Little Protection.
Climate refugees: The world's forgotten displacement
crisishttps://www.concernusa.org › StoriesApr 5, 2022 — For many refugees, climate change is a reality of displacement, a factor that
makes their survival that much harder-won.
BOOKS
· Giovanni Sciaccaluga. International Law and the Protection of “Climate Refugees.” Cambridge UP, 2020.
·
Considers a crucial
issue within international law and global politics: climate change and
climate-related migration
·
Provides the academic
and policy community with a better understanding of climate-related migration
·
Centers the question
"why should so-called climate refugees be protected abroad" not
through the lens of ethics but rather, international public law
·
Keywords
·
Reviews
This book studies the topic of forced climate
migrants (commonly referred to as “climate refugees”) through the lens of
international law and identifies the reasons why these migrants should be
granted international protection. Through an analysis focused on climate change
and human rights international law, it points out the legal principles and
rules upon which an international obligation to protect persons forced to
migrate due to climate change is emerging. Sciaccaluga advocates for a state
obligation to protect climate migrants when their origin countries have become
extremely environmentally fragile due to climate change—to the point of
becoming unable to guarantee the exercise of inalienable human rights in their
territories. Turning to the future, this book then investigates the current
elements on which a “forced climate migrants law” could be built, ultimately
arguing for the duty to provide some form of assistance to forced climate
migrants in a third state within the international legal system.
Simon
Behrman and Avidan
Kent. Climate Refugees: Beyond the Legal
Impasse? Routledge,
2018.
Current estimates of the numbers of people who will be
forced from their homes as a result of climate change by the middle of the
century range from 50 to 200 million. Therefore, even the most optimistic
projections envisage a crisis of migration that will dwarf any we have seen so
far. And yet attempts to develop legal mechanisms to deal with this impending
crisis have reached an impasse that shows little sign of being overcome. This
is in spite of the rapidly growing academic study and policy development in the
area of climate change generally.
'Climate Refugees': Beyond the Legal Impasse? addresses a fundamental gap in academic literature and
policy making – namely the legal ‘no-man’s land’ in which the issue of
climate refugees currently resides. Past proposals for the regulation of
climate-induced migration are evaluated, inter alia by their
original authors, and the volume also looks at current attempts to
regulate climate-induced migration, including by officials from the
International Organization for Migration (IOM), the office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Platform on Displacement
Disaster (PDD).
Bringing together experts from a variety of academic fields,
as well as officials from leading international organisations, this book will
be of great interest to students and researchers of Environmental Law, Refugee
Law, Human Rights Law, Environmental Studies and International Relations.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Editors
List of Contributors
List of Abbreviations
PART I: FOUNDATIONS
Chapter 1: Overcoming the Legal Impasse? Setting the scene
Chapter 2: ‘Climate Refugees’: A Legal Mapping Exercise
Chapter 3: A New Category of Refugees? 'Climate Refugees'
and a Gaping Hole in International Law
Chapter 4: Norm Formalization in International Policy
Cooperation - A Framework for Analysis
PART II: DEFINING AND CATEGORISING
Chapter 5: Justice and Climate Migration: The Importance of
Nomenclature in the Discourse on Twenty-First Century Mobility
Chapter 6: Who Are "Climate Refugees"? Academic
Engagement in the Post-Truth Era
PART III: GOVERNING CLIMATE REFUGEES: THE PERSPECTIVE OF
INTER-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
Chapter 7: Advancing the Global Governance of Climate
Migration through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and
the Global Compact on Migration: Perspectives from the International
Organization for Migration
Chapter 8: Enhancing Legal Protection for People Displaced
in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities
Chapter 9: State-Led, Regional, Consultative Processes:
Opportunities to Develop Legal Frameworks on Disaster Displacement
PART IV: REGULATING CLIMATE REFUGEES WITHIN EXISTING LEGAL
REGIMES
Chapter 10: Drawing Upon International Refugee Law: The
Precautionary Approach to Protecting Climate Change-Displaced Persons
Chapter 11: Public International Law’s Applicability to
Migration as Adaptation: Fit for Purpose?
Chapter 12: Climate Migrants’ Right to Enjoy their Culture
Chapter 13: Beyond the Shortcomings of International Law: A
Proposal for the Legal Protection of Climate Migrants
PART V: ENVISIONING SUI GENERIS PATHWAYS
Chapter 14: Towards an International Legal Status of
Environmentally Displaced Persons
Chapter 15: Cross-Border Displacement Due to Environmental
Disaster: A Proposal for UN Guiding Principles to Fill the Legal Protection Gap
Chapter 16: Global Governance to Protect Future Climate
Refugees
...
VIEW MORE
Robert A. McLeman. Climate and Human Migration: Past Experiences,
Future Challenges. Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, December
2013.
·
Studies
warn that global warming and sea level rise will create hundreds of millions of
environmental refugees. While climate change will undoubtedly affect future
migration patterns and behavior, the potential outcomes are far more complex
than the environmental refugee scenario suggests. This book provides a
comprehensive review of how physical and human processes interact to shape
migration, using simple diagrams and models to guide the researcher, policy
maker, and advanced student through the climate-migration process. The book
applies standard concepts and theories used in climate and migration
scholarship to explain how events such as Hurricane Katrina, the Dust Bowl, African
droughts, and floods in Bangladesh and China have triggered migrations that
haven't always fit the environmental refugee storyline. Lessons from past
migrations are used to predict how future migration patterns will unfold in the
face of sea level rise, food insecurity, and political instability, and to
review options for policy makers.
Reviews
& endorsements
"This book is
excellent. In Climate and Human Migration, Dr. McLeman offers accessible
explanations of this tremendously complex association -- convoluted processes
become understandable. In this way, the book will be valuable in the university
classroom. Dr. McLeman also offers a thorough summary of varied literature
scattered across multiple scientific disciplines. In this way, the book will be
valuable to both social and natural scientists. And finally, with his logical
and level-headed approach to a topic that is sometimes presented in
controversial and exaggerated terms, this book will be useful to practitioners
and policymakers. Highly recommended." - Lori Mae Hunter, Environment and
Society Program, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado at
Boulder; Editor-in-Chief of Population and Environment
No comments:
Post a Comment