Historical Evolution of Climate Refugee Concepts

Abstract

The world has been witnessing a rise in climate change-abetted events and natural disasters. Despite an increasing number of displaced people on account of such events, the issue of climate refugees has failed to achieve adequate attention from the global community and navigating institutions. The United Nations (UN) Convention of 1951 that pertains to the status of refugees, drafted and adopted in the backdrop post the second world-war world, provided a very limited definition of the ‘refugee’ word, perhaps to make it an implementable convention for partner states with well-identified rights and responsibilities. The two successive regional conventions, Africa’s OAU convention and Latin America’s Cartagena Convention attempted to broaden the ‘refugee definition’ and provide the scope, but in an indiscrete manner, to protect displaced persons due to climate disasters. Real-life examples of protecting climate migrants through these conventions are not available. The protection of climate refugees through an international or regional legal framework is challenged owing to absence of consensus on the definition of ‘climate refugees’ as a term and the general perception that climate-related displacement is a domestic issue handled by the affected state itself. Perhaps the biggest achievement for the climate refugee agenda would be the adoption of the UN compact on migration that is safe, orderly, and regular that considers climate migrants due to natural disasters and climate change. But it is non-binding in nature and only acts as a guiding framework for UN member states. In the absence of an adequate legal instrument, the simultaneous rise in climate change-related nature disasters is critical for the world community to discuss the issue of climate migrants and bring it to the forefront of climate-related international discussions.