Swimming Against The Tide: The Plight of Climate Refugees

By Ellen Salter
July 2020

The Global Picture of Forcibly Displaced Persons

Forced displacement is a global development crisis. And one that is only getting worse. According to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR) (2018), there are more than 79 million forcibly displaced people globally – defined as a person/people who are coerced/involuntary migrate away from their homes/home regions for reasons relating to safety, fear and security. Within the forcibly displaced persons category, there are a number of sub-categories including internally displaced people (estimated at 45.7 million people); refugees (approximately 26 million); and asylum seekers (an estimated 4.2 million).

Setting the Scene: Defining Climate Refugees

Today, neither the UNHRC nor any internationally recognised body recognises an official definition for climate refugees. As such, climate refugees are omitted from the above UNHRC definition and statistics for forced displacement.
So, why is this? Three principal are outlined below:

Defining Climate Refugees: Today, the globally recognised definition for Refugees adheres to the declaration made by the UN Human Rights Convention relating to the Status of Refugees in 1951. The declaration defines refugees as ‘a person who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.’
The Internal Nature of Climate-Linked Displacement: The UNHRC definition suggests that refugee status must be applied to those ‘outside of the country of his nationality’. It is widely recognised that most current and future climate-linked displacement will be internal thereby resulting in the categorisation as ‘Internally Displaced Persons’.
Stigmatisation: In many cases, most people facing migration due to climate change do not want to be considered as “refugees”. This is exemplified in Kiribati. In an interview, the former president Anote Tong declared: “I don't like our people to be categorized, as refugees... having lost a home, the last thing I would push to see them lose is their dignity."

The Academic Field of Environmental Migrants (and Climate Refugees)

The term environmental migrant first emerged in academic literature in 1985 in a paper by El-Hinnawi. Three years later, El-Hinnawi (1985) and Jacobson (1988) started with three sub-categories of environmental refugee:

Temporary displacement due to temporary environmental stress
Permanent displacement due to permanent environmental change; and
Temporary or permanent displacement due to progressive degradation of the resource base

Today, it is believed that anywhere between 24 million (UNHRC) and 38 million (Environmental Justice Foundation) “climate refugees” exist. (Despite the lack of a globally recognised definition).

2020: The Status of Climate Refugees

Some recent good news!
In January 2020, the UN Human Rights Committee ruled that "refugees fleeing the effects of the climate crisis cannot be forced to return home by their adoptive countries.”

The judgment was passed after Ioane Teitiota, a man from the Pacific nation of Kiribati, applied for protection in New Zealand in 2013, claiming his and his family’s lives were at risk from the unprecedented impacts of climate change and sea level rise. In 2013, the committee heard evidence of overcrowding and resultant social tension and violence on the island of South Tarawa (where Teitiota lived). Teitoita noted a population increase from 1,641 in 1947 to 50,000 in 2010 due to accelerated sea level rising resulting in nearby islands becoming uninhabitable.

Despite this, the New Zealand Court and the UN Human Rights Committee rejected the claim for protection, suggesting that while “sea level rise is likely to render the republic of Kiribati uninhabitable … the timeframe of 10 to 15 years could allow for intervening acts by the Republic of Kiribati, with the assistance of the international community, to take affirmative measures to protect and, where necessary, relocate its population”.

However, experts contested this. The committee then ruled that “the effects of climate change in receiving states may expose individuals to a violation of their rights … thereby triggering the non-refoulment obligations of sending states”.

Where are the world’s climate refugees?

The world’s climate refugees are located across the world – from Africa to Asia to the Arctic. In 2018, a World Bank Report hypothesised that within three of the most vulnerable regions — sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America — 143 million people could be displaced by these climate change impacts by 2050.

And did you know that Climate Refugees exist here in the UK?

In 2019, the residents of Fairbourne in North Wales were labelled as the “UK’s first climate refugees” following the government announcement that their community would be the first in the UK to be decommissioned as a result of climate change. The 850 residents were informed that their village, hosting 450 houses, a pub, post office and several shops, will be evacuated by 2054 because of the threat of sea-level rise and coastal flooding linked to climate change. Find out more here.

Where next?

Despite the January 2020 landmark declaration, most nations still do not recognise legal frameworks, guidance and/or policy for environmental migrants and climate refugees. Find out more about emerging work in this field.

You can support too by signing our campaign to lobby the UK national government to support environmental migrants and climate refugees.

Return to Human Rights and Wrongs.

References:
UNHCR Refugee Statistics (2019)
UNHCR Approach to Environmental Migration
The Guardian Article: Climate refugees can't be returned home, says landmark UN human rights ruling
UN Landmark: Climate Refugees Cannot Be Forced to Return Home
Environmental Justice Foundation: Climate Refugee Campaign
The UK’s First Climate Refugees BBC Article