OMNI CLIMATE REFUGEES ANTHOLOGY #1, November 19, 2022

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 AndrewsStaff 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 migrantsfrom 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

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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.

Issues

Get involved with one of our global programs, here.

35 Years Of Advocacy

Watch Out Impact Over Three Decades Of Providing Lifesaving Advocacy.

Regions

Search for articles & reports on refugee crises by region.

Newsroom

Stay up to date on current issues with Refugee's International.
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BOOKS

·       Giovanni Sciaccaluga.  International Law and the Protection of “Climate Refugees.”  Cambridge UP, 2020.

·       Table of contents

·       About this book

·       Keywords

·       Reviews

·       Authors and Affiliations

·       About the author

·       Bibliographic Information

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.

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

...
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Contents

Resources

Courses

About the Authors

 Robert A. McLeman.  Climate and Human Migration: Past Experiences, Future Challenges.   Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, December 2013.

Contents

Resources

Courses

About the Authors

·       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.

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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

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END CLIMATE REFUGEES ANTHOLOGY #1, November 19, 2022