Top

Hint

Swipe to navigate through the chapters of this book

Published in:

Read chapter Read first chapter

2020 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

3. Climate Change and Migration

Author : Giovanni Sciaccaluga

Published in: International Law and the Protection of “Climate Refugees”

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Abstract

This chapter draws attention to the most important findings concerning climate-related migration. It discusses the etiologic link between climate change-driven environmental degradations and human mobility; it then focuses on the difficulty of neatly separating forced and voluntary migrations. The distinction between climate-related forced and voluntary migrants is ontologically blurred, yet it is of utmost importance under international law. The chapter explains when and how it is possible to talk of voluntary or forced migrations, both mentioning dedicated studies and existing cases of climate-induced migration. Although confined to a national dimension, these cases provide clear examples of the first relocation processes caused by climate change. This leads to the last crucial element: most of the people involved tend to migrate within their national state, therefore not directly affecting international law and relations. The chapter highlights why this element also is of great importance for an international law perspective on the issue.

To get access to this content you need the following product:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 69.000 Bücher
über 500 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt 90 Tage mit der neuen Mini-Lizenz testen!

inform now

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 50.000 Bücher
über 380 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe

Jetzt 90 Tage mit der neuen Mini-Lizenz testen!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 58.000 Bücher
über 300 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt 90 Tage mit der neuen Mini-Lizenz testen!

inform now

previous chapter Conceptual Framework

next chapter How Many “Climate Refugees”? Pros and Cons of Maximalism and Minimalism

Huber & Gulledge (2011). Extreme Weather and Climate Change: Understanding the Link and Managing the Risk, p. 2. Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. https://www.c2es.org/site/assets/uploads/2011/12/white-paper-extreme-weather-climate-change-understanding-link-managing-risk.pdf. Accessed 13 October 2019.

Pall et al. (2011). Anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas Contribution to Flood Risk in England and Wales in Autumn 2000. Nature, 470(7334), p. 382.

Mayer (2017). Climate Change, Migration and the Law of State Responsibility. In Mayer & Crépeau (Eds.), Research Handbook on Climate Change, Migration and the Law. Cheltenham: Elgar, p. 256.

Lazarus (2009). Super Wicked Problems and Climate Change: Restraining the Present to Liberate the Future. Cornell Law Review, 94, p. 1153 ff.

The same reasoning is proposed in Meze-Hausken (2000). Migration, Development, and Environment: How Vulnerable Are People in Dryland Areas? A Case Study in Northern Ethiopia. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 5, p. 379.

Hugo (1996). Environmental Concerns and International Migration. International Migration Review, 30, Chapter. 6.

In similar terms, see also Mayer (2018): “The decision of individuals to migrate has a lot to do with the costs and benefits associated with non-migration decisions. This inherent link between migration and other issues of national development makes it relatively perilous to seek on-size-fits-all ‘solutions’ to ‘climate migration’ in isolation from careful consideration for development in particular contexts”. Mayer, Climate Change, Migration and the Law of State responsibility, in Mayer & Crépeau (Eds.). Research Handbook on Climate Change, Migration and the Law. Cheltenham: Elgar, p. 241.

Hugo (2010). Climate Change-Induced Mobility and Existing Migration Regime in Asia and the Pacific. In McAdam (Ed.), Climate Change and Displacement, Multidisciplinary Perspectives, Oxford: Hart Publishing, p. 9 ff.

The importance of the socioeconomic and political context is also underlined by Amartya Sen, who underlines that never a serious famine has hit a country with a democratic government and free press. See Sen (1993). Overcoming Global Hunger, Actions to Reduce hunger worldwide. Report. http://www.nzdl.org/gsdlmod?e=d-00000-00---off-0hdl--00-0----0-10-0---0---0direct-10---4-------0-1l--11-en-50---20-about---00-0-1-00-0--4----0-0-11-10-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&cl=CL2.22.2&d=HASH0144a39d21fe11a28a32cda9.12.fc. Accessed 10 March 2020.

See as a matter of example: Barnett & Webber (2010). Migration as Adaptation: opportunities and Limits. In McAdam (Ed.) (2010) (op. cit.), p. 37 ff.

New ZealandImmigration and Protection Tribunal (NZIPT) Decision 800413/2013. https://autlawiel.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/af-kiribati-2013-nzipt-800413.pdf. Accessed February 2018.

Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, adopted 28 July 1951, entered into force 22 April 1954, to be read in conjunction with the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, adopted on 31 January 1957.

Cfr. Hugo (2010). Climate Change-Induced Mobility and Existing Migration Regime in Asia and the Pacific. In McAdam (Ed.) (2010) (op. cit.), p. 13.

Bohle, Cannon, Hugo & Ibrahim (Eds.) (1991). Famine and Food Security inAfricaand Asia: Indigenous Response and External Intervention to Avoid Hunger. Bayreuth: Bayreuther Geowissenschaftilche Arbeiten.

Renaud, Bogardi, Dun & Warner (2007). Control, Adapt or Flee: How to Face Environmental Migration? InterSecTions Publication Series, 5. UNU-EHS. https://collections.unu.edu/view/UNU:1859#:~:text=Control%2C%20adapt%20or%20flee%3A%20how%20to%20face%20environmental%20migration%3F,-Series%20Title&text=The%20complex%20subject%20of%20this,sudden%20onset%20of%20hazard%20events. Accessed 10 June 2019.

Migration networks appear when a pioneer migrant reaches a destination and begins to settle there. Over time, the pioneer will be able to provide his/her family and friends with reliable training on new life, job opportunities, assistance on arrival, etc. This theory explains clearly how and why emigration sites are established and maintained in the long run, as it explains why migrants tend to concentrate in certain places, rather than randomly choosing others. This theory is also the basis of the climate changeadaptation project promoted by the Kiribatigovernment.

For a detailed study undergone in twenty-three different countries, see EACH-FOR (2009). Environmental Change and Forced Migration Scenarios, Synthesis Report. http://rosamartinez.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Migraciones-y-Cambio-Climatico_EACHFOR.pdf. Accessed 2 September 2018. See also: Laczko & Agharzam (Eds.) (2009). Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Assessing the Evidence. Geneva: IOM.

See in this regard US Government Accountability Office (2009). Alaska Native Villages: Limited Progress Has Been Made on Relocating Villages Threatened by Flooding and Erosion. Report to Congressional Requesters. https://www.gao.gov/assets/300/290468.pdf. Accessed 15 May 2019.

D’Angelo (2016, December 2). A Louisiana Tribe Is Now Officially a Community of Climate Refugees. Huffington Post Hawaii. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/climate-refugees-louisiana_n_56bbd5efe4b0c3c550501784?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAcHPSHZKmfQvaam-92okhuewL22cmI0xVjAooX_VgJLoxMLeMitEZ8vx9OpvK-dqLh3DvXH6VQ6ojgsvgXl0MhrbkMWCxjTMXDXzyFM18gDaDQnpWk43ZDTMkPjgCK61_7SELfa-dTMlVe5962oletUa7IvGr9kf_XI85s8xBiu. Accessed 14 April 2019.

Albert et al. (2016). Interactions Between Sea-Level Rise and Wave Exposure on Reef Island Dynamics in the Solomon Islands. Environmental Research Letters, 11, p. 1.

See the dedicated website: www.tulele-peisa.org. Accessed 1 January 2020. See on this matter: Pascoe (2015). Sailing the Waves on our Own: Climate Migration, Self-Determination and the Carteret Islands. QUT Law Review, 2, p. 72 ff.

Atapattu (2018). A New Category of Refugees? “Climate Refugees” and Gaping Hole in International Law. In Behrman & Kent (Eds.), ‘Climate refugees’ Beyond the Legal Impasse? New York: Routledge, p. 35.

See the data collected since 1990 by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center. Especially with the beginning of 2000, the number of IDPs has constantly more than doubled that of refugees each year. See http://www.internal-displacement.org/database/displacement-data, table on Number of IDPs and Refugees. Accessed 7 February 2020.

Mayer (2018). Who Are “Climate Refugees”? Academic Engagement in the Post-truth Era. In Behrman & Kent (Eds.) (op. cit.), p. 90.

IPCC (2014). Summary for policymakers. In Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 20. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WGIIAR5-PartA_FINAL.pdf. Accessed 15 August 2019.

Title: Climate Change and Migration
Author: Giovanni Sciaccaluga
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: International Law and the Protection of “Climate Refugees”
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-52401-2

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-52402-9

Copyright Year: 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52402-9_3

Springer Professional

Hint

Swipe to navigate through the chapters of this book

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

To get access to this content you need the following product:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Premium Partner