BaCCC/Module 6/Lesson 2/Part 1

Module 6, Lesson 2: Climate Change Refugees and Migration or Displacement, Part 1

Figure 1- Relationships among Risks, Resilience, Hazard Mitigation, and Climate Change Adaptation (27242486244)

Introduction

Climate change has the potential to greatly impact communities and ecosystems, and migration might be seen as one way to adapt to its effects. This can include relocating to areas with more favourable climates, as well as moving away from areas prone to extreme weather events, sea level rise and declining agricultural productivity.

“	The relationship between climate change and migration is complex. Climate change impacts could force people to move, but also trap people in dangerous places. Floods, droughts and rising seas could force people to flee across borders, but people are most likely to move within their own country when they can. Some people will have no choice about how or when they move." But when disasters unfold more slowly some people may decide to migrate and find alternative work. Some people may decide to move as a way of adapting to climate change impacts – with or without the help of their government.	”
—Alex Randall, Climate Change and Migration 101

You might find it useful to watch the following video.

Climate Change and Migration 101

Climate Change and Migration 101

If you have trouble accessing the video, a summary is available here.

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In Lesson 2, you will discover that while human displacement is an impact of climate change, human migration can be a form of adaptation to the impacts of climate change. This will lead to a look at what happens to those who migrate and those who are displaced. Finally, you will have the opportunity to look at adaptation through a climate justice lens (a reminder of Module 3).

Lesson Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

• show how migration can be an adaptation to climate change;
• list some impacts of displacement and migration; and
• look at adaptation through a climate justice lens.

Terminology

The following terms are important in understanding the science behind climate change. If you want to remember them, write their meanings in your learning journal as you encounter them in the course content.

• displacement
• ecosystem
• migration
• refugee
• strategies

Migration as an adaptation to climate change

Migration is perhaps the most drastic form of adaptation to the impacts of climate change.

“	Climate change [is] now found to be the key factor accelerating all other drivers of forced displacement. Most of the people affected will remain in their own countries. They will be internally displaced. But if they cross a border, they will not be considered refugees. These persons are not truly migrants, in the sense that they did not move voluntarily. As the forcibly displaced are not covered by the refugee protection regime, they find themselves in a legal void.	”
—António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (cited in Climate Refugees, 2023)

In this lesson, we are using the term “climate refugees” (which is not an official term) for anyone displaced, whether by choice (a migrant) or by necessity (a displaced person), whether internally (inside their own country) or across a border to a new country, because of climate change. (The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees uses the term “persons displaced in the context of disasters and climate change.”)

Although we refer to climate refugees, the concept does not entirely exist in international refugee law.

Those who leave their countries in the context of climate change or disasters do not qualify for protection under international law. The 1951 Refugee Convention offers protection to those fleeing war and conflict who face persecution along grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.

"This could leave the Bangladeshi family displaced across borders by a disaster, the subsistence farmer in Chad with no option but to leave his country because he lacks water for farming, or a mother forced to flee her country because of a climate change-induced resource war, outside the legal framework for protection." (Climate Refugees, 2023)

See: Climate Change Refugees

and especially https://www.climate-refugees.org/why.

Climate Change Refugees/Why?

Causes of Climate Refugees

“	Well, the term “climate refugee” is definitely used, but it actually doesn’t have a technical definition and does not exist in international law. What that [term] means is someone who is displaced because of climate events. But, again, it doesn’t have any status in international law, and that means that people who are displaced because of climate impacts don’t have any protections under international law. This despite the fact that there are some estimates that suggest that 25 people every minute are displaced due to severe weather events such as floods and storms and droughts.	”
—Joan Rosenhauer (cited in Remedios, 2020)

Rosenhauer (in Remedios, 2020) explains the different terms as follows:

• Migrant is used to describe people who are on the move for any number of different reasons – some forcibly and some not. It’s a very broad term.

• Refugee gets you into the focus on forcibly displaced people. A refugee is someone who has fled their home and crossed an international border, and they have fled their home owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or because of a political opinion.

• Asylum seeker is someone who is seeking these international protections that exist for refugees, but they have already arrived in the country in which they’re seeking the protection. They may have already come into the country and then presented themselves for asylum, or they may present themselves at a border crossing.

• Internally displaced people are those who have been forced to flee their homes, but they never cross an international border.

According to Rosenhauer (in Remedios, 2020), there are two main types of climate change that are causing people to flee their homes and, sometimes, their homelands:

One is the sudden onset of climate events that we often see people displaced due to extreme weather events such as cyclones or tsunamis, or droughts and things like that. . . . In fact, the UN has indicated that every year . . . 21.5 million people around the world . . . flee their homes because of a sudden onset weather event. . . . they still have lost everything and often really struggle.

The other type of impact the climate has on people that forces them to flee their home is the slow onset climate event, which would be rising average temperatures that lead to land no longer being fertile or rising sea levels that lead to coastal erosion.

She then explains that climate (change) is a threat multiplier:

“	And the last thing I’d say is that we also recognize climate as what the UN Secretary-General has called a threat multiplier. Often it plays a role in other kinds of crises that then lead people to be forcibly displaced. For example, there was a five-year drought in Syria before the war broke out, and that contributed to some of the dynamics there and the level of strife there. There’s a similar situation in South Sudan where there’s a civil war going on. So, this idea that climate kind of accelerates other drivers of forcible displacement is a very much recognized phenomenon.	”
—Rosenhauer (in Remedios, 2020)

Activity

Look at a map of the region or nation you live in. If your region accepted climate refugees, where would they likely come from? If you and your family became climate refugees, where could you flee to? Where would you flee to? Would you need to cross a border, or would you be able to stay in your own country? You might want to do research on neighbouring regions or countries to find out what the economic possibilities would be for you and your family (remember, quite often, jobs are left behind).

Do you know anyone in the area you choose? How would you be able to get there? Would your family be willing to host those people if the situation was reversed? (Talk to your parents or roommates before taking the next step. If you get permission, carry on.)

Reach out to the people you know or to people on social media to find your family a safe and certain “landing place” you can go to if you need to flee. Offer them the same safe place in your home. Arrange with each other ahead of time how long you will be willing to host each other. Perhaps create a written commitment. (Others might be interested in this adaptation strategy, so if it works out, you might want to write about it.) Imagine how much less stressful (and expensive) a forced evacuation will be if you know ahead of time where you can go. Keep track of all these plans in your learning journal.