Climate Refugees

Many people in developing nations are currently experiencing droughts and

windstorms on a magnitude that has never been experienced before, depriving them of daily
food and other necessities. Climate change is a leading problem that causes several people to
be forcibly displaced from their home country.

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 Since 1985, when Essam El-Hinnawi, an expert with the UN Environment Programme
(UNEP), first coined the term "climate refugees," it has been used to refer to people who have

been “forced to leave their traditional habitat, temporarily or permanently, because of marked
environmental disruption” (McAllister, 2023). In the upcoming decades, migration and
displacement are predicted to be significantly influenced by climate change. More often than
at any other time in recorded history, catastrophic weather disasters compel people to leave
their homes, either for brief evacuations lasting a few hours or days, or for longer and even
more protracted displacement. People move away from their homes as a result of catastrophic
weather conditions, such as floods, heat waves, droughts, and wildfires, as well as rising sea
levels and worsening water stress. This type of migration is expanding because of the failure
of the world to stop the increase in greenhouse gas emissions and the average global
temperature, which fuels more climatic disasters. The majority of climate migration is
anticipated to take place internally, while cross-border migration will also increase. Extreme
weather events mixed with other reasons, such natural subsidence and oil and gas operations,
are in some cases uprooting entire towns, forcing them to seek safety in other regions of their
country or cross international boundaries. Due to their vulnerability to the consequences of
climate change, Latin America, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa may experience sharp
increases in both internal and external migration. More than half of the population of the
developing world resides in these three areas, many of which are susceptible and some of
which are already going through migratory crises brought on by climate change (Prange,
2022).

1. Five countries with the most new climate refugees in 2019

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 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/climate-refugees-the-world-s-forgotten-
victims/ (Last download: 2023.05.30.)

Examples of why people are forced to leave their homes

Parts of the planet that people have called home for generations are now uninhabitable
due to climate change. According to the International Red Cross, there are more
environmental refugees than there are people escaping political persecution due to war and
other conflicts. In 2009, the most recent year for which data was available, the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that 36 million people were uprooted
due to natural catastrophes. According to a World Bank report from 2021, the global climate
catastrophe may force more than 200 million people to leave their countries by 2050. The
Institute for Economics and Peace estimated in 2020 that more than 1 billion people would be
at risk of being displaced by 2050.

1. Rising sea-levels

Between 1990 and 2100, sea levels are expected to increase by a total of 0.18 to 0.6
metres, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Low-lying
coastal regions of the world already experience issues as a result of rising sea levels.

For instance, less than five metres above sea level is where almost half of the people in
Bangladesh reside. Rising sea levels partially drowned Bangladesh's Bhola Island in 1995,
displacing 500,000 inhabitants. Rising ocean waters in Bangladesh, where 75% of the nation
is below sea level, have uprooted and impacted 25.9 million people. According to scientists,
flooding brought on by climate change may force Bangladesh to lose 17% of its land by the
year 2050. As many as 20 million climate refugees from Bangladesh could flee the loss of
land.

Another example of a city that has suffered form the rise of sea level is Venice. The
principal "streets" of Venice are really canals and other minor waterways. Whole piazzas, or
town squares, are submerged beneath several centimetres of water as the tide rushes in. The
frequency of floods has increased during the last century. The city's central square was
submerged seven times in 1900. It flooded 99 times in 1996. The economy of Venice is reliant
on tourism. Fewer tourists will arrive as the city floods more frequently, and maintaining
tourism infrastructure will become increasingly difficult. Popular tourist destinations like St.
Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace will be at risk from flooding and mould. Venetians

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might be compelled to leave as their city and economy decline. And at the end even the
entirety of Venice may sink within a few years.

Similar to Venice, the Maldives is facing the consequences of rising sea levels and due to
changes in the economy and ecology, it will probably result in more climate refugees. More
than 25% of the Maldivian economy is based on tourism. Less people and tourist amenities,
such hotels, are able to visit the islands as they steadily submerge. The 1,200 islands of the
Maldives could all be submerged by sea level rise. All Maldivians would be compelled to
look for new residences as a result. Leaders from Australia, India, and Sri Lanka have
collaborated with those from the Maldives to arrange an evacuation programme in the event
that the country becomes uninhabitable.

And these are just a few examples of countries and cities that are suffering. Numerous
other coastal cities are situated in low-lying regions that are vulnerable to sea level rise
throughout the world, such as Manhattan, New York, United States; London, England;
Shanghai, China; Hamburg, Germany; Bangkok, Thailand; Jakarta, Indonesia; Mumbai, India;
Manila, Philippines; and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

2. Drought

Drought can result in internal climate refugees, while rising seas endanger coastal regions.
People must relocate if they are unable to grow food on the land where they currently reside
in order to survive.

The Gobi Desert in China, for instance, grows by more than 3,600 square kilometres each
year. As grasslands are replaced by desert, farmers and merchants from the Gobi region move
to China's congested urban areas. Each year, desertification destroys more than 1,000 square
kilometres of agricultural land in Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya. These people who live on the
edge of the Sahara Desert might migrate to towns in the northwest African nation of the
Maghreb. They might also decide to relocate to one of Europe's wealthier nations. People who
live close to the Horn of Africa are particularly at risk from drought and desertification.
Subsistence agriculture is practised by the majority of rural populations in Somalia, Ethiopia,
and Eritrea. Threatened by starvation and extreme poverty, thousands of Somalis and
Ethiopians have already escaped to refugee camps in Kenya. 200,000 people now reside in
camps that were intended to house 90,000 people temporarily (National Geographic, 2023).

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Legal status of climate refugees

While climate migrants who flee intolerable conditions are similar to refugees, they
are not entitled to the same legal protections. Since there are no legally binding agreements
requiring nations to support climate migrants, the current system of international law is ill-
equipped to protect climate migrants.

To date, the UNHCR has declined to grant these people refugee status, referring to
them instead as "environmental migrants," in large part because it lacks the resources to meet
their requirements. However, because there is no coordinated effort to monitor the migrant
population, these desperate people travel where they can, not necessarily where they ought to.
It will get harder for the international community to ignore this concern as their numbers rise.
The international community may be forced to redefine "refugees" to include climate
migrants as severe climate change uproots more people, or to establish a new legal category
and supporting institutional framework to safeguard climate migrants. Despite the fact that no
country currently grants asylum to climate migrants, UNHCR published legal guidance in
October 2020 that paves the way for doing so in the future. Although it refrained from
redefining the 1951 Refugee Convention, it stated that there are some situations where climate
change and violence should be taken into account (Watson, 2022).

Although there are no internationally enforceable laws to safeguard climate migrants,

there are voluntary agreements that might be used to help them. The 2030 Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), which address both migration and climate change, were notably
endorsed by 193 nations. The 169 aims outlined by the SDGs include a few broad objectives
that could be used to safeguard climate migrants. Significant bilateral and multilateral
development support will be required to achieve these aims (Podesta, 2019).

Conclusion

Refugees from climate change are an issue for all nations and regions, not just those
directly impacted. Natural calamities occur everywhere. In order to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and locate homes for those who have been displaced, the international community
must cooperate. Since climate refugees are not protected under international law and they lack
access to the legal safeguards for their human rights that can shield them from dangers like
deportation, governments and legal institutions must redefine climate change-related issues as
threats to human rights and acknowledge the terrible danger that climate refugees face, even if

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that threat is not always as urgent as the perils faced by refugees escaping conflict. The
current legal framework for protecting refugees, particularly that which deals with cross-
border migration, does not easily adapt itself to protecting those who have been uprooted by
the effects of climate change. At the same time, the Paris Agreement's objectives to restrict
temperature increases to far below 2°C, and ideally to 1.5°C, must be met in order to stop
climate change and save the lives of millions.

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 References

Ida, T. (2021, June 18). Climate refugees – The world’s forgotten victims. World Economic

Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/climate-refugees-the-world-s-

forgotten-victims/

McAllister, S. (2023, January 13). There could be 1.2 billion climate refugees by 2050.

Here’s what you need to know. Zurich.com.

https://www.zurich.com/en/media/magazine/2022/there-could-be-1-2-billion-climate-

refugees-by-2050-here-s-what-you-need-to-know#:~:text=The%20term

%20%E2%80%9Cclimate%20refugees%E2%80%9D%20has

National Geographic. (2023). Environmental Refugee. Education.nationalgeographic.org.

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/environmental-refugee/

Podesta, J. (2019, July 25). The climate crisis, migration, and refugees. Brookings.

https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-climate-crisis-migration-and-refugees/

Prange, M. (2022, December 19). Climate change is fueling migration. Do climate migrants

have legal protections? Council on Foreign Relations.

https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/climate-change-fueling-migration-do-climate-migrants-

have-legal-protections

Watson, J. (2022, July 28). Climate Change Is Already Fueling Global migration. the World

isn’t Ready to Meet people’s Changing needs, Experts Say. PBS NewsHour.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/climate-change-is-already-fueling-global-

migration-the-world-isnt-ready-to-meet-peoples-needs-experts-say