Environmental migration and the dilemmas of displacement

by Rebecca Chao

Students bring their children when they come to class at the vocational training center in Sasstown, Liberia. SIPA students visited as part of a workshop in March. / Heidi S. Rosbe

Representatives from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the governments of Australia and Bangladesh presented their views on climate change migration at the April 5 panel discussion, “Migration and Climate Change: Managing the Displaced.”

“Migration is the most disruptive aspect of climate change,” said Alex de Sherbinin, a researcher from Columbia University’s Earth Institute, who moderated the discussion. Natural disasters, unpredictable weather patterns, and rising sea levels can trigger drastic environmental changes that upset livelihoods and induce conflicts over vanishing resources. Climate change thus has the potential to prompt massive and destabilizing migration and displacement exceeding the size and scope of past migration trends. The panel discussion focused on the challenges of managing these displaced populations.

“There are currently no international obligations towards these refugees,” said Wei-Meng Lim-Kabaa, the deputy director of UNHCR. The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol define a refugee as one fleeing persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, or membership in a particular social group or political opinion. The treaty prohibits refoulement, or the return of refugees to their place of victimization, but explicitly limits the definition to the persecuted, offering no protection for those environmentally uprooted.

Revising the current refugee definition would not be politically feasible, advised Lim-Kabaa, but domestic or regional mechanisms could be fairly effective. States could extend temporary protection, and affected and receiving states could draft bilateral treaties that address geographically specific dilemmas.

Muhammad Shamsul Haque, the Bangladesh Consul General in New York, called climate change a “global terrorist” and stressed the need for raising awareness of the impact of climate change on those most vulnerable, mainly developing countries, and the need for international support. While the Bangladeshi government has already adopted a comprehensive policy on climate change, Haque hopes that developed countries will be more open to accepting immigrants and environmental migrants. Also, those internally displaced and unable to flee from areas impacted by climate change would require substantial financial and social assistance, a need that may exceed the capacity of developing states.

Australia’s approach to addressing displacement has been one of research and prevention.

“We don’t want to get to the point where an entire island submerges,” said David Winsor, the political counselor at the Australian Mission to the UN. So far, major climate institutes in Australia have partnered with private corporations and global leaders to study and develop strategies to reduce carbon emissions. As a country that would be on the receiving end of mass displacement, Australia has also invested in helping its pacific neighbors in developing research tools.

Though the panel concluded with no clear consensus on how to resolve the predicaments of climate-induced migration and displacement, there was agreement on this: Climate change is not an overnight phenomenon, but its impact on migration is now discernible and advancing, which calls for a growth in literature and dialogue on the subject. Winsor stressed, “It’s good to start thinking now about these issues.”

The event was hosted by SIPA’s Migration Working Group, the Economic and Political Development Concentration, the Urban and Social Policy Concentration, the Energy and Environment Concentration, and the Humanitarian Affairs Working Group.

Published in RightsNews Volume 28, no. 2, April, 2010.
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