Environmental Migration

1. EnvironmentalMigration Oct. 11, 2016 Tyler Lloyd & Julie Rheinstrom

2. An Urgent Issue Corail, Haiti, in the wake of Hurricane Matthew

3. Migration and Global Environmental Change U.K. Government Office for Science • Report aiming to use the “best available science and other evidence” to: • Develop a vision for how population movements could be affected by global environmental changes between now and 2060. • Identify actions that policy-makers should take today to prepare for these future uncertainties. • Takes an “unequivocally global” and robust and independent approach, involving 350 experts from 30 countries worldwide.

4. Migration and Global Environmental Change U.K. Government Office for Science • Key Conclusions: • Environmental change will affect migration now and in the future, specifically due to its influence on various economic, social and political drivers. • Powerful economic, political and social drivers mean that migration is likely to continue regardless of environmental change. • The impact of environmental change on migration will increase in the future. • The complex interactions of drivers can lead to different outcomes, including migration and displacement. • Environmental change is equally likely to make migration less possible as more probable.

5. Migration and Global Environmental Change U.K. Government Office for Science • Key Conclusions (cont.): • Thus, millions of people will be unable to move away from locations in which they are extremely vulnerable to environmental change. • Preventing or constraining migration is not a “no risk” option.

6. Migration and Global Environmental Change U.K. Government Office for Science • What can be done? • Measures to prevent harmful environmental changes, reduce their impact, and build resilience in communities. • Migration can represent a “transformational” adaptation to environmental change, and in many cases will be an extremely effective way to build long-term resilience. • Cities in low-income countries are a particular concern, and are faced with a “double jeopardy” standard.

7. Sustainable Development Law on Environmental Migration Benoit Mayer • The “Obelisk”: • Noting the lack of environmental migration norms, Mayer discusses the search for some “giant monolith, an unalterable construction that would comprehend the whole issue of environmental migration in a magnificent manner.” • The definition in the Refugee Convention is limited, reflecting negotiators’ fears that vagueness would amount to a “blank check.” • But environmental migrants do not fit the existing definition; they are not “persecuted” in a specific State, but rather indirectly affected by environmental change (e.g. through reduced resources). • Lubkeman’s “involuntary mobility” (displacement caused by a fundamental change in the “human lifescape”) will flourish than political asylum, because governments are willing to allow international assistance for people.

8. Sustainable Development Law on Environmental Migration Benoit Mayer • The “Bag of Marbles”: • The fields of law relevant in the face of environmental migration: • Law relating to physical displacement (internal and international) • Law relating to the environment • Other fields of law: • Human rights • Development • Humanitarian relief • Responsibility • A thorough analysis of these fields is required to identify potential complementarities, overlaps, and gaps. • However, this is difficult because each field has its own culture and pursues its own objectives. • “Our bag of marbles threatens to break if it becomes too full and too heavy.”

9. Sustainable Development Law on Environmental Migration Benoit Mayer • The “Tapestry”: • Sustainable development law can serve as an overarching concept to “weave” together relevant norms. • The different norms can be structured along sustainable development law’s three pillars: • Social (e.g. internal displacement, statelessness, asylum, etc.) • Economic (e.g. development, international cooperation, etc.) • Environmental (e.g. climate change, land use, etc.) • There is enormous potential, but there are also challenges: • Much research is still needed to understand how these fields might connect with each other • There remains a disconnect between empirical and legal research on environmental migration

10. Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants on Climate Change and Migration Francois Crepeau • The world will experience profound changes in the natural and human environments over the next 50 years, with a significant impact on international migration. • Hundreds of millions of people, especially in the global South, are highly vulnerable to environmental change. •  Walter Kälin’s five scenarios of climate-induced displacement: • (i) sudden-onset disasters; • (ii) slow-onset environmental degradation; • (iii) sinking small island States; • (iv) high-risk zones designated by Governments; and • (v) unrest that seriously disturbs the public order, violence, or armed conflict. • Increasing focus by OHCHR and the U.N. system as a whole on the • intersection of climate change and environmental migration.

11. Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants on Climate Change and Migration Francois Crepeau • Existing human rights norms (e.g. in the ICCPR and ICESCR) provide robust protection for climate change migrants, though a more concerted and concrete application of these norms is required. • Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (2003) provides explicit rights, but it has only been ratified by 45 States. • Existing categories of migrants—(1) economic migrants and (2) asylum-seekers—are inadequate, as climate change migrants fall in between the two. States should recalibrate their rules to provide more “protection, assistance and migration opportunities.” • Migration patterns are hard to predict • The international legal framework is largely inadequate to address the urgent issue of disappearing, low-lying island States.

12. Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants on Climate Change and Migration Francois Crepeau • Migration is a “complex, multicausal phenomenon which may be driven by a multiplicity of push-and-pull factors.” • Thus, the Special Rapporteur recognized the need for “more rigorous scientific, empirical, sociological, legal and other research in this field.” • To understand the scope and nature, we must: • Identify people vulnerable to climate change-induced migration • Identify places vulnerable to climate change-induced migration • Ask where climate change migrants are moving to • Identify their needs

13. Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants on Climate Change and Migration Francois Crepeau • There is an international responsibility to protect the rights of foreign populations whose State is unable to do so. • In recognition of the causal chain between (1) greenhouse gas emissions in the global North and (2) the consequences of climate change that mostly impact the global South, Northern States are encouraged to contribute financially and technically to addressing the issue. • At the same time, soft law (e.g. the Guiding Principles on International Displacement) can provide first steps towards international action. • Civil society organizations must continue to play an important role in conveying the voice of migrants.

14. Discussion Questions • Based on what we’ve learned in previous classes, are climate change migrants “refugees” within the meaning of the Refugee Convention? • If they aren’t, should they be? Should a separate category of refugee be created for them? • What are some of the main obstacles to achieving international consensus on a treaty regarding climate change-based migration?