![Natural_disasters_caused_by_climate_change](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Natural_disasters_caused_by_climate_change.png)
Climate migrants are a subset of
environmental migrant
Environmental migrants are people who are forced to leave their home region due to sudden or long-term changes to their local or regional environment. These changes compromise their well-being or livelihood, and include increased drought, deserti ...
s who were forced to flee "due to sudden or gradual alterations in the
natural environment
The natural environment or natural world encompasses all life, living and non-living things occurring nature, naturally, meaning in this case not Artificiality, artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. Th ...
related to at least one of three
impacts of climate change
The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice (glaciers), sea leve ...
:
sea-level rise
Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryo ...
,
extreme weather
Extreme weather or extreme climate events includes unexpected, unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Often, extreme events are based on a locat ...
events, and
drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
and
water scarcity
Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water Water resources, resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water ...
."
Climate change is often described as a threat multiplier that compounds crises over time and space.
The United Nations
Global Compact on Refugees states that “while not in themselves causes of refugee movements, climate,
environmental degradation
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment (biophysical), environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; an ...
, and natural disasters increasingly interact with the drivers of refugee movements.” Still, climate migration relates to matters of political instability, conflict, and national security. First, displaced people may be relocated to regions geographically vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Second, there are both short- and long-term
effects of climate change
The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice (glaciers), sea level ...
. The cumulative impact of longer-term effects may lead to political conflict, insurrection, poverty, and other socioeconomic disparities.
Similar scenarios are already playing out with the
Arab Spring
The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in T ...
, food shortages, and consequent political pushback.
Global crises compounded by climate change will likely increase demand for military and humanitarian assistance. More research is needed to assess the linkages between these complex issues so that governments and international regimes can effectively address them in conversation with one another as opposed to in isolation.
As of 2017, there was no standard definition of a climate refugee in international law. However, an article in the UN Dispatch noted that "people who have been uprooted because of climate change exist all over the world — even if the international community has been slow to recognize them as such."
Definitions
Climate migrants are a subset of
environmental migrant
Environmental migrants are people who are forced to leave their home region due to sudden or long-term changes to their local or regional environment. These changes compromise their well-being or livelihood, and include increased drought, deserti ...
s who were forced to flee "due to sudden or gradual alterations in the
natural environment
The natural environment or natural world encompasses all life, living and non-living things occurring nature, naturally, meaning in this case not Artificiality, artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. Th ...
related to at least one of three impacts of
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
:
sea-level rise
Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryo ...
,
extreme weather
Extreme weather or extreme climate events includes unexpected, unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Often, extreme events are based on a locat ...
events, and
drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
and
water scarcity
Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water Water resources, resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water ...
."
[Global Governance Project. (2012)]
Forum on Climate Refugees
Retrieved on 5 May 2012.
Climate refugees do not really fit into any of the legal
definitions of a refugee. Researchers have questioned the very concept of climate refugees as lacking any scientific basis and the 'fabrication of a migration threat' as part of attempts to obscure the political causes of most displacement Experts have suggested that due to the difficulty of rewriting the
UN's 1951 convention on refugees, it may be preferable to treat these refugees as "environmental migrants." In January 2020, the
UN Human Rights Committee
The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a treaty body composed of 18 experts, established by a 1966 human rights treaty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee meets for three four-week sessions per y ...
ruled that "refugees fleeing the effects of the climate crisis cannot be forced to return home by their adoptive countries."
The term "climate exiles" has been used to refer to those climate migrants who may be in danger of becoming
stateless.
Climate justice and adaptation
![World_Climate_Refugee_Camp_in_Hannover](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/World_Climate_Refugee_Camp_in_Hannover.jpg)
The degree to which some of these changes occur can be reduced by means of
climate adaptation
Climate change adaptation is the process of adjusting to current or expected effects of climate change.IPCC, 2022Annex II: Glossary öller, V., R. van Diemen, J.B.R. Matthews, C. Méndez, S. Semenov, J.S. Fuglestvedt, A. Reisinger (eds.) InClimat ...
projects which increase the
climate resilience
Climate resilience is defined as the "capacity of social, economic and ecosystems to cope with a hazardous event or trend or disturbance".IPCC, 2022Summary for Policymakers .-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, M. Tignor, ...
of communities and peoples. Climate refugees may flee or migrate to another country, or they may migrate internally within their own country.
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There are both short- and long-term impacts of climate change which bring under-prepared communities environmental harm and exacerbate existing inequities. In the short-term, sudden climatic events like severe storms and natural disasters may destroy critical infrastructure, flood neighborhoods, disrupt transit systems, overburden medical centers, cause food and water shortages, destabilize energy plants, and jeopardize human health and well-being. In the long-term, famines, droughts, and other resource shortages and economic damages brought about by climate change may cause conflict, political instability, climate gentrification, and accumulated negative health effects due to exposure to unhealthy environments.
Just as individuals and countries do not contribute equally to climate change, they also do not experience the negative effects of the crisis equally.
Varying levels of investment are made in supporting the adaptation, resilience, and mobility of neighborhoods, municipalities, and nations in the face of climate change and consequent environmental migration. Small island states, rural populations, people of color, low-income communities, the elderly, people with disabilities, coastal urban populations, food and housing insecure households, and least developed countries are especially vulnerable to the worst effects of the climate crisis and therefore to environmental migration.
People with livelihoods tied to the environment, like those in agriculture, fisheries, and coast-dependent businesses, are also at risk of relocation or job loss due to climate change.
Who leaves and who stays when affected by climate change often falls along lines of race and class, as mobility requires some amount of wealth. Some researchers have predicted a wealth transfer from regions vulnerable to the effects of climate change to generally northern, less vulnerable areas.
Global statistics
In 1990, the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) a ...
(IPCC 1990: 20) declared that the greatest single consequence of climate change could be migration, 'with millions of people displaced by shoreline erosion,
coastal flooding
Coastal flooding normally occurs when dry and low-lying land is submerged by seawater. The range of a coastal flooding is a result of the elevation of floodwater that penetrates the inland which is controlled by the topography of the coastal land ...
and severe drought'.
The most common projection is that the world will have 150–200 million climate change refugees by 2050. Variations of this claim have been made in influential reports on climate change by the IPCC (Brown 2008: 11)
[Brown, O (2008). 'Migration and Climate Change', IOM Migration Research Series, paper no.31, www.iom.int] and the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change (Stern et al. 2006: 3), as well as by NGOs such as Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace Germany (Jakobeit and Methmann 2007) and Christian Aid;
[Christian Aid (2007). ]
Human Tide: The Real Migration Crisis
(CA: London), page 6 and inter-governmental organisations such as the Council of Europe, UNESCO, IOM (Brown 2008) and UNHCR.
Indeed, Francois Gemenne has stated that: 'When it comes to predictions, figures are usually based on the number of people living in regions at risk, and not on the number of people actually expected to migrate. Estimates do not account for adaptation strategies
rdifferent levels of vulnerability' (Gemenne 2009: 159).
Hein de Haas
Hein de Haas (born 1969) is a Dutch sociologist and geographer who has lived and worked in the Netherlands, Morocco and the United Kingdom. He is currently Professor of Sociology at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). His research concentrates on ...
has argued that to link the climate change issue "with the specter of mass migration is a dangerous practice based on myth rather than fact. The use of apocalyptic migration forecasts to support the case for urgent action on climate change is not only intellectually dishonest, but also puts the credibility of those using this argument - as well as the broader case for climate change action - seriously at risk".
[https://heindehaas.blogspot.com/2020/01/climate-refugees-fabrication-of.html Climate refugees: The fabrication of a migration threat] He argued that while "climate change is unlikely to cause mass migration" this also overlooks the fact that the implications of environmental adversity are most severe for the most vulnerable populations who lack the means to move out
While climate-related migration is often framed as a remote issue, extreme weather events are already forcing people out of their homes in many parts of the world. In 2020, storms, floods, landslides, wildfires and droughts triggered 38 million internal displacements (i.e. displacement within a country), according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. This is a record and three times as many forced movements as those caused by conflicts.
In 2018, the BBC reported that "UN figures indicate that 80% of people displaced by climate change are women".
Statistics by region
Asia and the Pacific
![Bangladesh-climate_refugee](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Bangladesh-climate_refugee.jpg)
According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, more than 42 million people were displaced in Asia and the Pacific during 2010 and 2011, more than twice the population of Sri Lanka. This figure includes those displaced by storms, floods, and heat and cold waves. Still others were displaced by drought and sea-level rise. Most of those compelled to leave their homes eventually returned when conditions improved, but an undetermined number became migrants, usually within their country, but also across national borders.
Climate-induced migration is a highly complex issue which needs to be understood as part of global migration dynamics. Migration typically has multiple causes, and environmental factors are intertwined with other social and economic factors, which themselves can be influenced by environmental changes. Environmental migration should not be treated solely as a discrete category, set apart from other migration flows. A 2012 Asian Development Bank study argues that climate-induced migration should be addressed as part of a country's development agenda, given the major implications of migration on economic and social development. The report recommends interventions both to address the situation of those who have migrated, as well as those who remain in areas subject to environmental risk. It says: "To reduce migration compelled by worsening environmental conditions, and to strengthen the resilience of at-risk communities, governments should adopt policies and commit financing to social protection, livelihoods development, basic urban infrastructure development, and disaster risk management."
Additionally, it is maintained that the poor populate areas that are most at risk for environmental destruction and climate change, including coastlines, flood-lines, and steep slopes. As a result, climate change threatens areas already suffering from extreme poverty. "The issue of equity is crucial. Climate affects us all, but does not affect us all equally," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told delegates at a climate conference in Indonesia.
["Environmental Refugees."](_blank)
World Vision Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 March 2012. Africa is also one of the world regions where environmental displacement is critical largely due to droughts and other climate-related eventualities.
![Sundarbans_a_few_months_after_cyclone_sidr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Sundarbans_a_few_months_after_cyclone_sidr.jpg)
Due to
rising sea levels
Rising may refer to:
* Rising, a stage in baking - see Proofing (baking technique)
*Elevation
* Short for Uprising, a rebellion
Film and TV
* "Rising" (''Stargate Atlantis''), the series premiere of the science fiction television program ''Starga ...
, as many as 70,000 people will be displaced in the
Sundarbans
Sundarbans (pronounced ) is a mangrove area in the delta formed by the confluence of the Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers in the Bay of Bengal. It spans the area from the Baleswar River in Bangladesh's division of Khulna to the Hooghly R ...
as early as 2020 according to an estimate by the Center for Oceanographic Studies at Jadavpur University. One expert calls for
restoring the Sundarbans’ original
mangrove
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...
habitats to both mitigate the impacts of rising seas and storm surges, and to serve as a carbon sink for greenhouse gas emissions.
650 families of Satbhaya in Kendrapara district of Odisha, India who have been displaced by sea level rise and coastal erosion have been a part of the state government of Odisha's pioneering approach to planned relocation at Bagapatia under Gupti Panchayat. While this approach makes provision for homestead land and other amenities, provisioning for livelihoods like agriculture and fishing which are the mainstay for the relocated populations is needed.
In
Minqin County,
Gansu Province
Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province.
The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibeta ...
, "10,000 people have left the area and have become ''shengtai yimin'', 'ecological migrants'".
In
Xihaigu
Xihaigu is a region forming the southern tip of Ningxia, China. It consists of the seven county-level divisions Yuanzhou, Xiji, Longde, Jingyuan, Pengyang, Haiyuan and Tongxin. The former five counties being part of Guyuan city. It forms ...
,
Ningxia
Ningxia (,; , ; alternately romanized as Ninghsia), officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), is an autonomous region in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in ...
, water shortages driven by climate change and deforestation have resulted in several waves of government-mandated relocations since 1983.
In 2013 a claim of a
Kiribati
Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),[Kiribati]
''The Wor ...
man, Ioane Teitiota, of being a "climate change refugee" under the
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees
The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, also known as the 1951 Refugee Convention or the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951, is a United Nations multilateral treaty that defines who a refugee is, and sets out the rights of individual ...
(1951) was determined by the New Zealand High Court to be untenable.
The Refugee Convention did not apply as there is no persecution or serious harm related to any of the five stipulated convention grounds. The Court rejected the argument that the international community itself (or countries which can be said to have been historically high emitters of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases) were the "persecutor" for the purposes of the Refugee Convention.
This analysis of the need for the person to identify persecution of the type described in the Refugee Convention does not exclude the possibility that a people for countries experiencing severe impacts of climate change can come with the Refugee Convention. However, it is not the climate change event itself, rather the social and political response to climate change, which is likely to create the pathway for a successful claim. The New Zealand Immigration and Protection Tribunal and the High Court, "there is a complex inter-relationship between natural disasters, environmental degradation and human vulnerability. Sometimes a tenable pathway to international protection under the Refugee Convention can result. Environmental issues sometimes lead to armed conflict. There may be ensuing violence towards or direct repression of an entire section of a population. Humanitarian relief can become politicised, particularly in situations where some group inside a disadvantaged country is the target of direct discrimination".
The New Zealand Court of Appeal also rejected the claim in a
2014 decision. On further appeal, the New Zealand Supreme Court confirmed the earlier adverse rulings against the application for refugee status, with the Supreme Court also rejecting the proposition "that environmental degradation resulting from climate change or other natural disasters could never create a pathway into the Refugee Convention or protected person jurisdiction".
Teitiota appealed to the UN. In January 2020, the UN Human Rights Committee "ruled against Teitiota on the basis that his life was not at imminent risk," but also said that it was a human rights violation to force refugees to return "to countries where climate change poses an immediate threat."
In 2014 attention was drawn to an appeal to the
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
Immigration and Protection Tribunal against the deportation of a Tuvaluan family on the basis that they were "climate change refugees", who would suffer hardship resulting from the environmental degradation of
Tuvalu
Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northeast ...
.
However the subsequent grant of residence permits to the family was made on grounds unrelated to the refugee claim.
The family was successful in their appeal because, under the relevant immigration legislation, there were "exceptional circumstances of a humanitarian nature" that justified the grant of resident permits as the family was integrated into New Zealand society with a sizeable extended family which had effectively relocated to New Zealand.
North America
Alaska
![Shishmaref-_Erin_(53)_edit_(15653586503)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Shishmaref-_Erin_%2853%29_edit_%2815653586503%29.jpg)
There have been 178 Alaskan communities threatened by erosion of their land. The annual temperature has steadily increased over the last fifty years, with Alaska seeing it double (compared to the rate seen across the rest of the United States) to the rate of 3.4 degrees, with an alarming 6.3 degrees increase for the winters over the past fifty years. Many of the communities residing in these areas have been living off the land for generations. There is an eminent threat of loss of culture and loss of tribal identity with these communities.
Between 2003 and 2009, a partial survey by the
Army Corps of Engineers identified thirty-one Alaskan villages under imminent threat of flooding and erosion. By 2009, 12 of the 31 villages had decided to relocate, with four (
Kivalina
Kivalina ( ik, Kivalliñiq) is a city
and village in Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska, United States. The population was 377 at the 2000 census and 374 as of the 2010 census.
The island on which the village lies is threatened by rising sea ...
,
Newtok
Newtok ( esu, Niugtaq) is a small village on the Ningliq River in the Bethel Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2010 census, the population was 354, up from 321 in 2000. Climate change is forcing the primarily Central Yup'ik Alaska Nati ...
,
Shaktoolik
Shaktoolik ( ik, Saktuliq, ; russian: Шактулик) is a city in Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 251, up from 230 in 2000. Shaktoolik is one of a number of Alaskan communities threatened by erosi ...
, and
Shishmaref
Shishmaref ( ; ik, Qigiqtaq, ; rus, Шишмарёв, p=ʂɨʂmɐˈrʲɵf) is a City (Alaska), city
in the Nome Census Area, Alaska, Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States. It is located on Sarichef Island in the Chukchi Sea, just north of ...
) requiring immediate evacuation due to danger of immediate flooding along with limited evacuation options.
However, relocation is proving difficult because there is no governmental institutional framework that exists for the aid of climate refugees in the United States. The Obama administration promised to fund $50.4 billion to help with relocation efforts in 2016.
Louisiana
Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana
Isle de Jean Charles (known locally in Louisiana French as Isle à Jean Charles) is a narrow ridge of land situated in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. For over 170 years, it has been the historical homeland and burial ground of the state-recogniz ...
, home to the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw First Nation, is being depopulated with federal grant money, due to
saltwater intrusion
Saltwater intrusion is the movement of saline water into freshwater aquifers, which can lead to groundwater quality degradation, including drinking water sources, and other consequences. Saltwater intrusion can naturally occur in coastal aquifers ...
and sea level rise. This Indigenous Nation residing on the Isle de Jean Charles is facing the effects of climate change. The resettlement of this community of around 100, exists as the first migration of a total community in the state of Louisiana. This state has lost almost of its coast within the last 87 years and now an alarming rate of almost per year is disappearing. In early 2016, a 48-million-dollar grant was the first allocation of federal tax dollars to aid a community suffering from direct impact of climate change. Louisiana has lost land mass comparable to the size of the state of Delaware revealing land mass loss that is at a rate faster than many places in the world. The resettlement plan for the Isle de Jean Charles is at the forefront of responding to climate change without destroying the community that resides within.
Washington state
![Kettle Complex Fire evacuees (20113041514)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Kettle_Complex_Fire_evacuees_%2820113041514%29.jpg)
The
Quinault Quinault may refer to:
* Quinault people, an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast
**Quinault Indian Nation, a federally recognized tribe
**Quinault language, their language
People
* Quinault family of actors, including
* Jean-Baptis ...
village of
Taholah has requested $60 million to relocate away from the encroaching Pacific Ocean.
Central America
![Hurricane_Maria_(2017)_170923-H-NI589-0002_(37312143081)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Hurricane_Maria_%282017%29_170923-H-NI589-0002_%2837312143081%29.jpg)
The people of Central America are constantly at the mercy of severe weather and climate change will only exacerbate this issue. A large portion of this region lies along the “
Dry Corridor
The Dry Corridor or Central American Dry Corridor (CADC) is a tropical dry forest region on the Pacific Coast of Central America. This area, which extends from southern Mexico to Panama, is extremely vulnerable to climate change due to much of the ...
”, an arid region that includes areas of Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic. The dry corridor is predicted to expand with the onset of climate change. It is currently home to approximately 10 million people, half of whom are subsistence farmers. From 2009 - 2019, two million residents in the dry corridor have experienced hunger because of extreme weather events caused by climate change.
Natural weather patterns such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or simply “El Niño”, can make dry conditions in this region more extreme. Wet periods following an El Niño weather event can bring torrential rain that results in major flooding and catastrophic landslides. Multiple studies have shown that climate change could result in more frequent extreme El Niños.
[
Food security issues are expected to worsen across Central America due to climate change. In August 2019, Honduras declared a state of emergency when a drought caused the southern part of the country to lose 72% of its corn and 75% of its beans. It is predicted that by 2070, corn yields in Central America may fall by 10%, beans by 29%, and rice by 14%. With Central American crop consumption dominated by corn (70%), beans (25%), and rice (6%), the expected drop in staple crop yields could have devastating consequences. The World Bank predicts that by 2050, climate change-induced migration could displace 1.4 - 2.1 million residents of Central America and Mexico. The highest estimate is that climate change events, especially droughts and flooding, could displace up to 4 million people by 2050.
Several weather events in the 21st century have displayed the devastating effects of the El Niño weather pattern and have led to mass displacement and hunger crises. In 2009, extreme drought hit the Dry Corridor, followed by Hurricane Ida. The storm affected forty thousand people in Nicaragua and left thirteen thousand homeless. El Salvador received up to of rain in two days, causing massive landslides which killed 190 people and displaced ten thousand more. In 2015, due to the strongest El Niño in recorded history, hundreds of thousands of Central American subsistence farmers lost a portion or the entirety of their crops. Throughout 2014 and 2015, El Salvador alone saw over $100 million in damage to crops. In Guatemala, the drought caused a food shortage that left 3 million people struggling to feed themselves, according to a 2015 report authored by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP). The Guatemalan government declared a state of emergency as the drought and high food prices led to a hunger crisis during which chronic malnutrition was common among children. By the end of June 2016, it was estimated by the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) that 3.5 million people required humanitarian assistance across El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.][
The western highlands of Guatemala are particularly susceptible to climate change, affecting the region’s predominantly indigenous population of subsistence farmers. The main crops, potatoes and maize, have been under increasing pressure as hard frosts in the region have become more frequent since 2013. Hard frosts can kill a whole season’s worth of crops at once. At lower elevations, new pests are becoming more prevalent and there has been decreased rainfall. In 2018, 50% of the 94,000 Guatemalans deported from the United States and Mexico were from these western highlands.]
The IOM/WFP report also showed the ways in which food insecurity led to migration from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Pointing out that there are millions of Central Americans living abroad (with over 80% in the United States), the report stated there is a positive correlation between food insecurity and migration from these countries. It also confirmed that crises related to hunger and violence are exacerbated when the region heads into the second consecutive year of an extreme drought. In their conclusions, the authors definitively found that food insecurity has led to migration in these countries. Despite this evidence, the ramifications of extreme weather and climate change have rarely been discussed in relation to Central American migrants and it requires more research to prove their direct link.
South America
Many peer-reviewed articles analyzing migration in South America have found multiple types of linkages between climate change and its effect on migration. The effects and results vary based on the type of climatic change, socioeconomic status and demographic characteristics of migrants and the distance and direction of the migration. Since most climate migration studies are done in the developed world, scientists have called for more quantitative research within the developing world, including South America. Migration in South America does not always increase as a result of increased environmental threats but is affected by factors such as climate variability and land suitability. These migrations happen either gradually or suddenly but are typically directed from rural to urban areas. Inter-provincial migration is shown to not be as heavily influenced by environmental changes whereas migration outside of the home country is heavily influenced by environmental changes. The results of a climactic event catalyzing migration change depending on the onset of the event, however, climate change related events such as drought and hurricanes augment or increase youth migration. Youth are more likely to migrate as a response to climate-related events. As a result, children who have been displaced are found to travel shorter distances to find work in rural destinations versus further to an urban area. Researchers suggest a review of the terms that define who is an environmental migrant since policy-making bodies and intergovernmental agencies most affect responses when an environmental event causes people to migrate. Because of the increase in interest in this topic in the past decade some people call for a measure called preventive resettlement. The cases in which preventive resettlement appear appropriate is typically discerned by local and governmental bodies. Others call for an increase in social programs to both prevent and help in a migration event.
Some Kuna people
The Guna, are an Indigenous people of Panama and Colombia. In the Guna language, they call themselves ''Dule'' or ''Tule'', meaning "people", and the name of the language is ''Dulegaya'', literally "people-mouth".
The term was in the language ...
, such as those in the settlement of Gardi Sugdub, have decided to relocate from islands to the mainland of Panama due to sea level rise
Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cry ...
.
Since 2018-2019, migration from central America (Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
, Honduras, and El Salvador) towards countries such as the USA, due to crop failures caused in part by climate change are becoming an issue.
Europe
Due to the 2014 Balkan flooding (which is considered to be linked to climate change), some people in Bosnia and Herzegovina migrated to other European countries.
In Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, the village of Fairbourne
Fairbourne is a seaside village in Gwynedd, Wales. Located on the coast of Barmouth, Barmouth Bay in Arthog Community (Wales), community, to the south of the estuary of the River Mawddach, it is surrounded by Snowdonia National Park. It is in an ...
has been cited as an area particularly vulnerable to sea level rise. The local Gwynedd Council
Cyngor Gwynedd ( en, Gwynedd Council) is the governing body for the county of Gwynedd, one of the principal areas of Wales. The council administrates internally using the Welsh language.
History
The county of Gwynedd was created in 1974 under ...
has described it as impractical to protect from rising sea levels and proposed managed retreat
Managed retreat involves the purposeful, coordinated movement of people and buildings away from risks. This may involve the movement of a person, infrastructure (e.g., building or road), or community. It can occur in response to a variety of hazar ...
.
Political and legal perspectives
The International Organization for Migration
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations agency that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers.
The IOM was ...
(IOM) expects the scale of global migration to rise as a result of accelerated climate change. It, therefore, recommends policymakers around the world to take a proactive stance on the matter.[International Organization for Migration]
Key Principles for Policy Making on Migration, Climate Change & the Environmental Degradation
The IOM is composed of 146 member states and 13 observer states and "works closely with governments in promoting migration management that ensures humane and orderly migration that is beneficial to migrants and societies." Additionally, when interviewing Oliver- Smith, an anthropologist and member of the UN group, National Geographic Magazine
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
noted that "there are at least 20 million environmental refugees worldwide, the Ngroup saysmore than those displaced by war and political repression combined." Therefore, it is imperative that we begin to recognize this recent division of refugee.
The Environmental Justice Foundation
The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) founded in 2000 by Steve Trent and Juliette Williams that works to secure a world where natural habitats and environments can sustain, and be sustained by, the com ...
(EJF) has argued that the people who will be forced to move due to climate change currently have no adequate recognition in international law. The EJF contends that a new multilateral legal instrument is required to specifically address the needs of "climate refugees" in order to confer protection to those fleeing environmental degradation and climate change. They have also asserted that additional funding is needed to enable developing countries to adapt to climate change. Sujatha Byravan and Sudhir Chella Rajan have argued for the use of the term 'climate exiles' and for international agreements to provide them political and legal rights, including citizenship in other countries, bearing in mind those countries' responsibilities and capabilities.
In some cases, climate change may lead to conflict arising between countries that as a result of flooding or other conditions produce a large number of refugees, and bordering countries that build fences to keep out these refugees. The Bangladesh–India border
The Bangladesh–India border, known locally as the International Border (IB), is an international border running between Bangladesh and India that demarcates the eight divisions of Bangladesh and the Indian states.
Bangladesh and India share ...
is largely separated via a fence, and case studies suggest the possibility of violent conflict arising due to people fleeing from areas suffering from the destruction of arable land
Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the ...
. Current migration has already resulted in low-scale conflicts.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that sea levels will increase with up to by 2100. This will cause populations to wipe out entirely. Small areas may have nothing left. This could lead to the loss of millions of refugees. Refugee organizations have taken on cases of many different refugees. The Organization for Refugees Asylum and Migration (ORAM) is designed to help refugees in seeking status and resettlement. They are designed to help refugees overcome the Refugee process. ORAM's main goal is to protect the vulnerable refugees for the laws put on refugee and help end the refugee asylum process. There is a ton of legal action taken against refugees. Political laws are put on the refugees to either harm or hurt the refugees.
Global perceptions from possible countries of asylum
Acceptance of the possibility of environmental migrants may be influenced by other challenges that confront a nation. For example, while India says that its India-Bangladesh barrier is intended to deter drug trade, the barrier may also deter millions of Bangladeshis who may be displaced by future climate change. In Canada, there is public interest in policies that foster planning and accommodations. On 20 September 2016, Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada told the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants that plans just for resettlement would not be enough. Sweden which had allowed refugees to seek asylum from areas of war in an open door policy has changed to a policy that is more deterrent of asylum seekers and is even offering money for asylum seekers to withdraw their requests. The United States, which was warned under the Obama administration to prepare for climate change and consequent refugees, had more difficulties in doing so under former President Donald Trump, who denied the reality of climate change, signed executive orders dismantling environmental protections, ordered the EPA to remove climate change information from their public site, and signaled his administration's unwillingness to anticipate environmental refugees from climate change.
A nation grants "asylum" when it grants someone freedom from prosecution within its borders. Each country makes its own rules and laws of asylum. The United States, for example, has a system recognized by federal and international laws. France was the first country to constitute the right to asylum. The right to asylum differs in different nations. There is a still fight for the right to asylum in some areas of the world.
In 2021, a French court ruled in an extradition hearing to avoid the deportation of a Bangladeshi
Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay.
Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...
man with asthma from France after his lawyer argued that he risked a severe deterioration in his condition, due to the air pollution
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...
in his homeland. Heavy floods affected Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh in July 2021.
Perspective of countries taking immigrants
In the UK, research is being done on how climate change's impact on countries that are emigrated to will vary due to the infrastructure of those countries. They want to put into place policies so that those who have to migrate could go throughout Europe, and have solid emergency planning in place so that the people being displaced would have a swift and quick plan of escape once their environment can no longer handle inhabitants-slow or sudden onset. The end goal of this work is to determine the best course of action in the event of various environmental catastrophes.
Planning for climate migrants
Planning for environmental migration means preparing for the desertion of geographically vulnerable areas as well as for the influx of vulnerable communities into largely inland urban areas. In addressing current issues of environmental migration and preparing for forthcoming ones, experts call for interdisciplinary, locally-informed, equitable, and accessible approaches. Cities can explore what being “migrant friendly” might look like, such as offering job training programs, affordable and livable housing, access to green spaces, accessible mass transit systems, and resources to overcome language or cultural barriers. Special investment in both resources and information dissemination can help accommodate the diverse needs of people with disabilities and mental health conditions – both in the immediate moment of a disaster, where some emergency response and early warning systems may not be audiologically or visually accessible, and in the aftermath. Investments in flood barriers and other infrastructure for adaptation can provide physical protections against severe weather. Incorporating these considerations into planning conversations now can assist cities in preparing for the worst effects of climate change
The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice (glaciers), sea level ...
before some of the scenarios for environmental migration come to occur.
Sustainable development, emergency response mechanisms, and local planning can help mitigate the consequences of environmental migration. For people whose livelihoods are closely linked to the stability and health of their environment – like farmers and fishers – migration may become necessary for survival. A recent NYT and Pulitzer Center article on the issue notes that “by comparison, Americans are richer, often much richer, and more insulated from the shocks of climate change. They are distanced from the food and water sources they depend on, and they are part of a culture that sees every problem as capable of being solved by money...Census data show us how Americans move: toward heat, toward coastlines, toward drought, regardless of evidence of increasing storms and flooding and other disasters...The sense that money and technology can overcome nature has emboldened Americans." This disparity is reflected in the coastal real estate market and development projects. Addressing environmental migration issues and climate change as a whole may involve reimagining how, where, and why municipalities develop and urbanize for the future.
Society and culture
A documentary entitled ''Climate Refugees
Climate migrants are a subset of environmental migrants who were forced to flee "due to sudden or gradual alterations in the natural environment related to at least one of three Effects of climate change, impacts of climate change: sea-level rise ...
'' has been released in 2010. ''Climate Refugees'' was an Official Selection for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival
The 26th annual Sundance Film Festival was held from January 21, 2010 until January 31, 2010 in Park City, Utah.
Award winners
*Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - '' Restrepo''
*Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic - ''Winter's Bone''
*World Cinema Jury Prize: ...
. More recently, Short Documentary Academy Award Nominee, ''Sun Come Up'' (2011), tells the story of Carteret islanders in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
who are forced to leave their ancestral land in response to climate change and migrate to war-torn Bougainville.[Sun Come Up: Home]
" Sun Come Up . N.p., n.d. Web. 13 March 2012. Since 2007, German artist Hermann Josef Hack has shown his World Climate Refugee Camp in the centers of various European cities. The model camp, made of roughly 1000 miniature tents, is a public art intervention that depicts the social impacts of climate change.
Various works of ecofiction
Ecofiction (also "eco-fiction" or "eco fiction") is the branch of literature that encompasses nature-oriented (non-human) or environment-oriented ( human impacts on nature) works of fiction. While this super genre's roots are seen in classic, pasto ...
and climate fiction
Climate fiction (sometimes shortened as cli-fi) is literature that deals with climate change.Glass, Rodge (31 May 2013).Global Warning: The Rise of 'Cli-fi' retrieved 3 March 2016 Generally speculative in nature but scientifically-grounded, wor ...
have also featured environmental migration and environmental migrants. One of these is ''The Water Knife
''The Water Knife'' is a 2015 science fiction novel by Paolo Bacigalupi. It is Bacigalupi's sixth novel, and is based on his short story, ''The Tamarisk Hunter'', first published in the news magazine '' High Country News''. It takes place in the ...
'' by Paolo Bacigalupi
Paolo Tadini Bacigalupi (born August 6, 1972) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He has won the Hugo, Nebula, John W. Campbell, Compton Crook, Theodore Sturgeon, and Michael L. Printz awards, and has been nominated for the Na ...
, which focuses on climate displacement and migration within the American Southwest. Another is the 2014 science fiction movie ''Interstellar''. In 2016's science fiction TV series ''Incorporated'', the inciting incident leading to the decline of national governments and the rise of corporations is a global climate refugee crisis.
See also
* Effects of climate change on human health
The effects of climate change on human health include direct effects of extreme weather, leading to injury and loss of life, as well as indirect effects, such as undernutrition brought on by crop failures or a lack of access to safe drinking water. ...
* Managed retreat
Managed retreat involves the purposeful, coordinated movement of people and buildings away from risks. This may involve the movement of a person, infrastructure (e.g., building or road), or community. It can occur in response to a variety of hazar ...
* Space and survival
Space and survival is the idea that the long-term survival of the human species and technological civilization requires the building of a spacefaring civilization that utilizes the resources of outer space, and that not doing this will lead to hu ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
Climate Change, Environment, and Migration Alliance
World Refugee & Migration Council (2021) 'Solutions for the Global Governance of Climate Displacement'
{{climate change
Environmental issues
Refugees by type
Effects of climate change