Climate Displacement

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US Rhetoric on Climate Change and Migration So Far Not Matched by Action, Leaving Many Vulnerable

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US Rhetoric on Climate Change and Migration So Far Not Matched by Action, Leaving Many Vulnerable

Last summer, the United States Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) announced a “new approach to address the impacts of climate change on migration and displacement”. The announcement emphasized the importance of developing “humane policies” and outlined the four principal objectives of the US in addressing the impacts of climate change on migration and displacement. While a promising sign, so far this “new approach” has resulted in little substantive change, all while the US struggles to implement coherent and effective immigration and climate policy.

UNHCR Official: “Good Case to Be Made” for Climate Refugees Protocol

UNHCR Official: “Good Case to Be Made” for Climate Refugees Protocol

Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Gillian Triggs said recently that while opening up the 1951 Refugee Convention to reform would be a risky step backwards, there was a “good case to be made” that a new protocol on climate refugees should be introduced. 

The comments from one of UNHCR’s most senior officials come just a few months after a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change highlighted the apparent reluctance of UN agencies on refugees and migration  to provide a total assessment of the number of people displaced internationally as a result of climate change. In that report, Special Rapporteur Fry explicitly called for an optional protocol to the 1951 Convention, commenting that it would be logical for UNHCR to administer such a protocol in coordination with IOM and other relevant bodies. 

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Climate Change Forcing Many to Flee Honduras, Highlighting Need for Protection

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Climate Change Forcing Many to Flee Honduras, Highlighting Need for Protection

Following an official visit to Honduras, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, Ian Fry, is sounding the alarm about how climate change impacts are pushing many people to leave the Central American country.

Fry found that communities are facing prolonged droughts, severe flooding events, and coastal erosion and inundation due to climate change. These impacts are “forcing people to leave their homes and seek more sustainable livelihoods” elsewhere in order to avoid starvation and a lack of safe drinking water. Industries that provided stable livelihoods just a few years ago are now being swallowed by rising seas, creating “‘ghost communities with only old people left’”. In one Dry Corridor community the Special Rapporteur visited, drought has forced 80% of residents to leave Honduras, given how limited livelihood options are elsewhere in the country. 

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Climate-Migration Nexus Garners Attention at Africa Climate Week

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Climate-Migration Nexus Garners Attention at Africa Climate Week

Mirroring increased interest in the media and even among the public at large, the link between climate change and forced migration received some high-profile attention during September’s Africa Climate Week and Africa Climate Summit, which ran concurrently in Nairobi in early September.

Perhaps the most notable development of the week was the signing of the Kampala Ministerial Declaration on Migration, Environment and Climate Change (KDMECC-AFRICA). 48 African nations have now agreed to adopt the declaration, which was first put forth in July 2022 and at the time signed by 15 states. The expanded consensus around the declaration represents a major milestone in addressing displacement as a result of climate change in the most climate-vulnerable continent in the world. Parties to the declaration commit to using a “human rights-based approach in the design and implementation of policies relating to the climate change-migration nexus.” 

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Record-Breaking Temperatures are an Urgent Reminder to Protect Refugees & Migrants

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Record-Breaking Temperatures are an Urgent Reminder to Protect Refugees & Migrants

The individuals facing the worst consequences have played no part in creating this climate crisis. Adequate protection must be provided to individuals made vulnerable and exposed to climate hazards such as extreme temperatures, including by introducing mobility pathways for affected communities and providing funding to countries for the losses and damages caused by climate change in order to develop adequate infrastructure and help build livelihoods for refugees, displaced persons and migrants worldwide.

A View From the Record-Breaking Canadian Wildfires - a conversation with one evacuee

A View From the Record-Breaking Canadian Wildfires - a conversation with one evacuee

This year’s devastating wildfire season in Canada is a sobering reminder that while some areas are undoubtedly more vulnerable to climate change and its exacerbation of severe climate events, no place is truly safe. Indeed, the planet just endured its hottest three-month period on record, prompting UN Secretary-General António Guterres to declare that “climate breakdown has begun.” Only a coordinated, global response based in solidarity, responsibility, and protection of people will suffice.