Rising global temperatures, rising sea levels, increasing droughts and other catastrophic effects of climate change could displace more than a billion people from their homes over the next thirty years. And these numbers are only expected to increase in the coming decades.
While several national governments have developed immigration routes for migrants fleeing natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis, no government currently provides protection for migrants displaced by non-disaster — or “slow” — climate change, which can consist of increasing droughts in the oceans and desertification. If countries continue to fail to include people displaced by slow-onset climate change in their immigration laws, 10 percent of the world’s population may not have a safe, legal place to stay by 2050. This could exacerbate the underlying causes of conflict and spark the largest refugee crisis in human history.
While progress remains slow, the Biden administration’s October 2021 report on climate migration was a step in the right direction. The report highlighted the growing link between climate change and migration, making the United States the first member of the Group of Twenty to propose a political process that could potentially offer new legal status and protections to so-called “climate migrants.” While the report reaffirmed that people displaced by climate change are not legally recognized as refugees under international law and are therefore not entitled to asylum protection, it provided much-needed attention and a useful framework to the global challenge.
Falling through the cracks: international law and climate migrants
The Internationalist
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Under international law, a “refugee” is defined as someone who has a well-founded fear or persecution in their country of origin because of their “race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group”. This definition was enshrined in law with the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, the principles of which are now considered customary international law and therefore binding on all States.
Unfortunately, the United Nations failed to provide a legal definition of climate refugees. While the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has stated that “people displaced across borders in connection with climate change and disasters may be in need of international protection”, the United Nations has stated that such people do not count as refugees and are not protected from non-refoulement by states. Therefore, despite the recognized dangers that climate migrants face in their countries of origin, international law allows states to deport these migrants.
Several UN bodies have attempted to correct this incongruity, although only multilateral conventions and the UN Security Council can create binding international law. First, the UN General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution that identified climate refugees as vulnerable but made no policy recommendations. Second, UNHCR provides legal advice to states responding to “disaster displaced” people, but does not advise on slow-onset climate change. Third, the UN’s International Organization for Migration has created the Migration, Environment and Climate Change Division, but cannot generate support for new conventions. Because climate migrants have not been included in current UN refugee definitions and frameworks, UN agencies have not made resettlement of climate migrants a priority.
Defining catastrophe: Ignore slow crises
In the absence of international law, the United Nations and international non-governmental organizations have pushed states to adopt their own definitions and safeguards for climate migrants. However, many states have failed to recognize climate migrants directly, or have focused solely on those fleeing concrete disasters, ignoring slow-onset crises.
For example, in 2021 President Joe Biden restored Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Haitians residing in the United States displaced by the 2010 earthquake, expanding Obama-era policies that originally granted them TPS. TPS was established in 1990 to provide short-term refuge (up to eighteen months) to civilians fleeing civil wars and humanitarian disasters until the conflict in question is resolved or the countries of origin recover from the specific disaster.
While national responses to post-disaster displacement are not perfect, they are certainly more robust than protective measures for those fleeing slow-onset climate crises. When disasters such as hurricanes or earthquakes strike, it is easy for migrants arriving at the borders to prove that the environmental disaster caused their displacement. One has only to turn on the news to see swathes of destroyed homes and insufficient local emergency relief to know these people need shelter. The ease of identifying the cause of displacement encourages immigration judges to grant TPS to victims of disaster displacement, knowing that those with TPS can return home once the country of origin begins rebuilding and restoring order.
In contrast, many of the effects of slow-onset climate change are ambiguous, making it difficult for migrants and judges alike to identify climate change as the cause of displacement. For example, extreme weather patterns in Central America’s Dry Corridor — made up of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua — have increased poverty and insecurity among families dependent on agriculture, contributing to displacement and migration. The United Nations World Food Program reports that regional farmers, who make up more than 50 percent of local industry, have experienced the worst drought in more than thirty-five years, leaving many without income. More than 25 percent of households could not afford enough food due to low crop yields in 2021. Unlike occasional dry seasons before, however, summer droughts and torrential winter rains have steadily worsened in recent decades, forcing generations of farmers who worked the land to abandon it and migrate elsewhere in search of economic opportunity and stable food.
If these families sought shelter on the US southern border because of climate-related economic hardship, they would be turned away. Poverty is not a sufficient reason to be granted asylum under the UN definition of refugees and does not qualify victims for TPS. However, these families have been displaced by circumstances beyond their control, just like the victims of the Haiti earthquake. Their livelihoods have become unsustainable due to the changing planet, yet immigration laws only treat them as impoverished aliens.
While it could be argued that farmers affected by weather changes and desertification can simply find other jobs in their home countries, some victims do not have such options. Take the island nation of Kiribati. By the end of this century, rising sea levels will completely sink the country into the Pacific Ocean, forcing the resettlement of more than a hundred thousand residents to other countries. However, if a Kiribati showed up on the California coast hoping to make a new life for himself in the United States and spared his children and grandchildren the trauma of an emergency evacuation in the future, he would be denied. They are not entitled to persecution or asylum, and they are not fleeing the catastrophe. Not yet.
International and national legal systems have allowed slow-onset climate migrants to slip through the cracks, leaving them without legal status, protection and migration options. However, the Biden administration’s report signals that the United States is ready and eager to take a leadership role in reforming legal concepts of climate migration to avert catastrophe in the coming century.
The report does not detail what the legal status of climate migrants might be, but a good start would be to expand TPS to cover those displaced by slow-onset climate change. If TPS were granted to citizens of a particular nation or region, those individuals could not be deported from the United States and could receive an Employment Authorization document allowing them to work. This would enable climate refugees to build a physically and financially secure life far away from their currently (or soon) uninhabitable countries of origin.
The expansion of TPS by executive order is also a politically sensible option. Such a move could add slow-onset climate change as a qualification for TPS while avoiding fractious debates within a politically deadlocked Congress. Given the polarizing nature of immigration legislation, a purely executive policy change would ensure that climate migrants receive some protection sooner rather than later. The White House could also authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security to unilaterally determine which countries and regions are eligible for TPS.
While TPS by definition only offers a temporary solution for displaced people, it is a step in the right direction to recognize climate migrants’ right to legal status and protection. Looking ahead, the United States should strive to provide a path to citizenship or permanent residency beyond TPS for victims of irreversible climate change. Certainly this would require an act of Congress, which is certainly not guaranteed. However, offering TPS as a temporary shelter for climate migrants could encourage other national governments to introduce similar or more robust safeguards, which in turn could motivate the United Nations to pursue a new convention on climate migrants. If the United States takes decisive steps to recognize and protect climate refugees, it will signal that global asylum norms must change to meet the threat of climate change in the 21st century.
Anya Howko-Johnson is a former intern for the CFR’s International Institutions and Global Governance program.
Instead of becoming more dependent, we need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and electricity immediately. Opt for eco-friendly options like solar power and profit stream. Make it a habit to recycle and reuse. Don’t throw things away, learn to reuse them properly.
What rights do climate migrants have?
II. Who are climate refugees? There is currently no formal definition or protection for those who are either internally displaced or seeking refuge due to climate change. On the same subject : The United States of America: terrorist attack in Mogadishu.
What is Australia’s policy on climate refugees? The Australian legal framework does not recognize the term “climate refugees” because people who have been displaced internationally due to climate issues are not classified as refugees; this only refers to people who were forced to leave their country to escape war or persecution.
Who is responsible for climate refugees?
“The United States has a special responsibility to provide leadership on issues related to climate change, migration and displacement,” it said. In 2020, weather-related disasters displaced more than 30 million people worldwide, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center found.
Does the UN recognize climate refugees?
While not legally binding, the UN Human Rights Committee’s ruling is the first to address an individual’s attempt to obtain refugee status due to the effects of climate change. It recognizes that environmental degradation and climate risks limit human rights due to sea level rise.
Are climate refugees protected by international law?
Although we refer to climate refugees, the concept does not fully exist in international refugee law. Anyone who leaves their country in connection with climate change or disasters has no right to protection under international law.
What are the 4 ways that climate change can be managed?
Risk management approaches related to climate change generally fall into four broad categories: 1) mitigation – efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; 2) adaptation – increasing society’s ability to cope with climate change; 3) Geoengineering or climate engineering – additional, targeted manipulation of the earth system …
How will climate change be managed? The most important ways to stop climate change are to put pressure on governments and companies: to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Fossil fuels include coal, oil and gas – and the more of these that are mined and burned, the worse climate change will become. All countries need to move their economies away from fossil fuels as quickly as possible.
What are the 3 solutions to climate change?
Some of the most promising avenues to mitigating climate change are the so-called “natural climate solutions”: the conservation, restoration, and improved management of land to increase carbon storage or avoid greenhouse gas emissions in landscapes around the world.
What are 5 things we can do to stop climate change?
18 simple things you can do to fight climate change
- 1) Bring your own bottle or cup. …
- 2) Replace inefficient light bulbs. …
- 3) Turn off some lights. …
- 4) Have a goal of “2 degrees” at home. …
- 5) Walk or bike somewhere you would normally ride today. …
- 6) Vote! …
- 7) Plant something. …
- 8) Take a hike.
How can we solve climate change migration?
expert opinion
- Invest in innovative data collection and monitoring. …
- Learn how to deal with slow onset events. …
- Keep an eye on small events. …
- Recognize the potential of forecasting models. …
- Fight sensational predictions with data and evidence. …
- Focus on risk mitigation. …
- Recognizing connections between conflicts and climate change.
How does climate change lead to migration? Simply put, climate change will cause population movements by making certain parts of the world much less livable places; by making food and water supplies less reliable and increasing the frequency and severity of floods and storms.
Do you think that migration is a way to adapt to climate change?
Migration is often viewed as a form of climate change adaptation by which individuals, households and communities seek to reduce the risks associated with climate change.
How does climate change affect migration in Africa?
Climate change stressors, such as droughts or floods, threaten ecological resilience and affect migration patterns, as they impede agricultural crops, food production systems and water resources, and put increasing pressure on urban areas.
