Do Climate refugees need an international status like refugees fleeing war & oppression?

The term Refugee defined in the 1951 Refugee Convention relating to the status of Refugees amended by the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. This definition:

‘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 or, owing to such fear, unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it (UNHCR, 2006b:16)’

Shouldn’t be tampered with or amended has it could attenuate the motion that has been protecting many for several decades. However, we are moving into an era of a different refugee crisis, rather than the traditional war and oppression fleeing refugees, climate change has brought its baggage. Climate refugees have been invisible to the migration and climate talks yet, the global destruction towards our planet isn’t nearing an end. Climate change is bringing both gradual yet pervasive environmental change, as a society, we will face more floods, droughts, and natural disasters for many years to come and with congeries of consequences. An estimate is that by 2050 there will be anywhere between 25 million to 1 billion environmental migrants, whether traveling inside or across boundaries, permanently or temporarily (UN International Organisation for Migration).

Climate refugees shouldn't be grouped in the same category as refugees fleeing war and oppression as it would wane the status of refugees currently protected by the UNHCR. Restarting discussions about the Refugee Convention could prove disastrous amongst the people protected under the convention. Not only will it liquidate the current status of refugees, but also a new definition that incorporates all aspects of climate and war refugees. Currently, a refugee is defined by “well-founded fear of being persecuted” (UNHCR, 2006b:16) if it were to accommodate “Climate refugees” that segment would need to be explicit. As environmental factors would be served as the persecutor with intent to harm, in retrospect the ramifications of climate change we face are man-made(Renaud et al., 2011). Thus the scope of the definition doesn’t extend to climate-related matters, ie. They can’t fulfill the element of genuine fear of persecution. To be able to protect environmental refugees a new convention must be established to meet the conditions of Climate refugees. As are many displaced by floods, droughts earthquakes, and many more, 17.2 million record displacements associated with disasters in 148 countries and territories were registered in 2018. For example, when 73000 people were displaced and left homeless due to the Idai the cyclone that hit Mozambique in March 2019 ( The United Nations, 2019).

The adverse effects of climate include increased sea levels, this change is causing some cities to sink as water is slowly encroaching their coastlines, the fluctuation of pressure due to excessive groundwater pumping also causes the land to sink. As a result, many cities and islands are at risk of becoming partly submerged and uninhabitable within a few decades. There are an ample number of examples of cities and islands that are slowly sinking into the sea like

Cities

Jakarta, Indonesia

Population 2020: 10.19m

Sinking 6.7 inches per year - groundwater pumping

Lagos, Nigeria

Population 2015: 21.34m

Houston, Texas

Population 2019 2.3m

Sinking at a rate of 2 inches a year - groundwater pumping

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Population 2017: 16.8m

Oceans could flood 17% of Bangladesh land

Venice, Italy

Population 2019: 260,897

Venice is sinking at a rate of 0.08 inches every year.

Bangkok Thailand

Population 2018: 5.67m

1 centimeter a year and could be below sea level by 2030 the guardian

Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Population 2020: 651,446

According to The New York Times, 90% of the city of Rotterdam is below sea level.

Miami, Florida

Population 2019: 467,963

Rising sea level rates than in other areas of the world

Islands

Marshall Islands

Population 2018: 58,413

Sea level in the Marshall Islands will rise by as many as 16 inches by 2045

Maldives

Population 2018: 515,696

The Philippines

Population 2018: 106,652,922

Sea levels in the Philippines are projected to rise by 9 to 18.5 inches by the end of the 21st century.

Canary Islands, Spain

Population 2018: 2.1 million

Fiji

Population 2018: 883,483

Seychelles

Population 2018: 96,762

Theoretically, just one meter (39 inches) of sea-level rise may sink 70% of the nation’s entire land.

Cape Verde

Population 2018: 543,767

French Polynesia

Population 2018: 277,679

Sea levels are expected to rise by as many as 32 inches by the end of the late 21st century.

Many governments are formulating suitability strategies and trying corrective actions to counter surging sea levels. French Polynesia is planning to construct floating islands sustained by solar and wind power to inhabitant the existing population. None the less, this is a concerning matter, what will happen to all the displaced people as the numbers are going to reach billions if we don’t contain climate change. How will the inhabitants of these regions survive and where will they go if the only alternative is to move on? It is imperative that a convention is created to protect the supplant population. Climate change is going to continue to present clear challenges in the future it is how we avert the issue and amend our actions that will count.

However, separating climate refugees from other factors is arduous. Defining a climate refugee will be a long process as becoming a climate refugee will entail many interdependent factors like socioeconomic status, political nature of the country, area of the country, and many more. All these factors will have some legal drawbacks and loopholes(Renaud et al., 2011). Each scenario must be drafted to cater to everyone. If a convention were to be made the terms need to adhere to all possible natural outcomes we may face, as global warming will have several severe consequences globally. The new convention must brace for impact for any citizen on the planet and must be well thought off as the global crisis isn’t seeing any slowdown.

Starting a new convention will have long proceeding with many articles to incorporate all circumstances, but climate-specific legal status can run parallel to the existing refugees’ status. It is paramount for this convention to be set in motion.

An important argument made against Climate Refugees is that giving them a special status like refugees fleeing war and oppression would push away from environmental corrective action. Our community would be giving people the free pass to continue polluting and continue actions that are hurtful towards the environment ( The United Nations, 2019). If people get refugee status they will migrate and leave all their problems behind like the Central American mass migration to the United States, migration is happening so rapidly due to the increase of temperature in that region, thus escalating the amounts of natural calamities like floods, droughts, and storms. If no action in these areas is taken it could reach a point of no return, thus resulting in baron land. The level of global warming is not slowing down at the rate conversationalist would like to see it, by giving Climate Refugees special status would be taking like 3 steps back for any preventative measures. Eventually, governments will start sweeping things under the carpet and allowing citizens to apply for Climate refugee status (Bassetti,2019).

It can’t be dismissed that mass migration and climate change are intertwined problems with diverse factors such as population growth, poverty, governance, human security, and conflict all interact with the climate change aspect. Climate change will induce long term migration circumstances like environmental erosion, including phenomena such as desertification, reduction of soil fertility, coastal erosion, and sea-level rise. Ascertain areas are more affected than others, at least in the short run, this leads to mass movements of people seeking better and more stable alternatives. Therefore, understanding the climate-migration nexus can become a key to both solving the climate crisis and the migration crisis. If we continue to treat them separately, we are failing to see the bigger picture. It is integral to establish a convention to protect both current and future climate refugees, to ensure their safety and wellbeing.

References

https://www.un.org/en/

Bassetti, F. (2019, June 22). Environmental Migrants: Up to 1 Billion by 2050. Retrieved July 30, 2020, from https://www.climateforesight.eu/migrations-inequalities/environmental-migrants-up-to-1-billion-by-2050/)

Renaud, F. G., Dun, O., Warner, K., & Bogardi, J. (2011). Environmental Degradation and Migration. International Migration, 49. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2435.2010.00678.x

The United Nations (2019, June 6). Let's Talk About Climate Migrants, Not Climate Refugees – United Nations Sustainable Development. Retrieved July 30, 2020, from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/06/lets-talk-about-climate-migrants-not-climate-refugees/