“Environmental Refugees: The forgotten migrants”
May 16th 2007, UN Headquarters
The United Nations University in New York (UNU-ONY), in cooperation with the United Nations Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), organized a panel discussion entitled “Environmental Refugees: The forgotten migrants”. This meeting took place on May 16th 2007, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Due to a variety of reasons: creeping process of desertification, natural disasters, depletion of natural resources, and survival of livestock, people have been forced to leave their “traditional habitat” in search of food, supplies or even water. In many parts of the world, especially sub-Saharan Africa, the land simply cannot sustain people any longer. It forces desperate inhabitants to “migrate” to other places. According to the most pessimistic predictions, up to 150 million people from all around the world will be displaced by 2050 as a result of the impact of global warming and climate change.
Despite this, there has been no factoring of this growing phenomenon by the humanitarian agencies or within the regulatory framework. The meeting, which grouped together representatives from different UN departments and agencies concerned with environmental issues and the refugees’ question, aimed to raise awareness on the clear need to examine this problem and conceive of a means to assist and protect environmentally motivated or forced migrants.
To address this question of environmental migrants, the United Nations Office in New York hosted four speakers. Following some introductory remarks by Jean-Marc Coicaud, Head of the United Nations University Office in New York, Doctor Janos J. Bogardi, Director of the United Nations University for Environment and Human Security and co-opted Professor at the Bonn University in Germany, made a presentation entitled “Environmental Migration: Flight or Choice”. He explained that migration is an established and steady component of human history. However several environmental factors force people to become migrants: desertification, deforestation, soil erosion, droughts, floods, sea-level rise and other disasters of natural origins are consequences of the global climate change we are currently experiencing. The current climate change is affecting all regions of the globe. Developing countries are even more vulnerable to natural hazards, due to lack of resources and infrastructure needed to cope with these kinds of phenomenon. Dr. Bogardi classified the environmental migrants into three categories. The first being the environmentally motivated migrants, who leave a deteriorating environment that could be potentially rehabilitated. The second category consists of the forced migrants that have to leave their habitat due to loss of livelihood. Finally, environmental refugees include those fleeing their homes because their base resource ecosystem is severely afflicted. Dr. Bogardi advocated a “five-pronged Approach” regarding the problem of environmental migrants, founded on: science, awareness, legislation, humanitarian aid and institutions. He concluded that environment should be included as a dimension of migration in ongoing international debates.
Subsequently, Mrs. Maryam Niamir-Fuller, Principal Technical Advisor and Team Leader of the Land Degradation (LD) Cluster for UNDP’s Environmental Finance Unit in New York, highlighted the institutional and policy issues related to environmental migrants. She asserted that environmental migrants and refugees are very difficult to quantify but is undoubtedly a growing problem. Land degradation, a phenomenon where land capability and ecosystem goods and services have been reduced or destroyed, pushes people to leave their homes in order to seek better conditions elsewhere. Mrs. Niamir-Fuller explained that there are three types of environmental degradation:
- Rapid environmental degradation, due to hazards and disasters;
- Gradual environmental degradation, due to increasing population, increasing climate change, and increasing extraction of natural resources;
- Development choices leading to environmental degradation, due to faulty development paradigms, benign neglect or exploitation.
She also stressed that there are three patterns of environmental migration:
- Migration within rural areas (IDPs): for example farmers in the Sahel moving south with increasing aridity in the north;
- Rural to urban migration: Burkina Faso saw one million people leaving its borders during the 1970’s droughts, most of them settling in urban areas in other countries in West Africa, as well as in Europe;
- Urban to rural migration or people going back to their roots: the pattern is evident in Eastern Europe, where many young people, as well as retirees, are resettling in rural zones in order to flee the congestion and pollution in urban areas.
There is a need to raise awareness on land degradation and environmental migration among policy makers and potential refugees themselves. States have an obligation to plan, predict and manage the climate change and reduce the impact of it on their citizens. The issue of environmental refugees has institutional and policy implications. Consequently, it is vital to address the root causes with a development-oriented agenda, rather than wait for the problem becomes a security issue. Mrs. Niamir-Fuller highlighted the fact that it is crucial to quantify the flow of refugees, encourage fact-findings and work at the sending and receiving places.
In a conclusion, the representative from UNDP said that the goal should be to eliminate environmental refugees, reduce environmentally motivated migrants and to promote more flexible environmentally motivated migrants. However, migration should always be recognized as a necessary mechanism for adaptation to current environmental degradation as well as to climate change.
The third panelist, Brian Gorlick, Senior Policy Advisor at the New York Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR), exposed the UNHCR perspective regarding environmentally displaced persons. Mr. Gorlick acknowledged that there is no agreed definition in international law, nor consensus among experts on the meaning of the term environmental refugees is. Despite this, the following key elements can define an environmental migrant:
- There is an element of compulsion: the migrant is displaced or obliged to leave;
- There is not a reference to cross-border movement;
- The migrant’s life, livelihoods and welfare is at risk;
- The migrant is facing adverse environmental processes (climate change, global warming, land degradation, riding sea levels, etc) and events (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, droughts, etc) but the migrant doesn’t necessarily face persecution or an armed conflict.
Consequently, these kinds of migrants can not be considered protected by the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. (cf. Article 1: People outside of their own country because of well-founded fear of persecution on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a social group or political opinion, and where there is a failure of state protection in the country of origin or habitual residence)
The environmental processes and events to which Mr. Gorlick referred have several human, social, and economic impacts:
- They represent a immediate danger for the survival of the population;
- They contribute to the destruction of productive capacities and to the collapse of local economies:
- They lead to social disintegration, through exploitation, prostitution, human trafficking and smuggling
The question of the environmental migrant is a multidimensional problem. People move for political, as well as for environmental, social, ethnic and economic reasons. The State of origin is also responsible and contributes to the creation of vulnerability factors by taking inappropriate government policies or by being unprepared to cope with natural disasters. The State has the duty to protect the human rights of individuals affected by natural hazards. (IASC Operational Guidelines on Human Rights and Natural Disasters, 2006).
Subsequently, Mr.Gorlick explained that UNHCR has a very limited role in providing environmental refugees with protection and assistance. The Refugees Agency exceptionally assists victims of deliberate or conflict-related environmental destruction, assists governments lacking capacity to respond to natural disasters by providing money and relief items, and occasionally gets involved on a large scale, such as in the instance of the tsunami disaster. UNHCR’s role is limited for several resaons: the legal mandate of UNHCR is restricted by the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, the Agency has very small financial resources, and there is a lack of support from the UN Members States, whose concern is to limit their obligations towards refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants from the developing world. There is a widespread skepticism concerning the concept of “environmental refugees”, as well as the definition and related statistics. Mr. Gorlick stressed the role and responsibility of governments and States in responding to migratory flows, protecting the environment and preventing and mitigating natural disasters.
Finally, Mr. Philippe Boncour, Head of the International Dialogue on Migration Division at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), made a presentation on “How to devise a strategic approach to migration and the environment.” Mr. Boncour showed that environment and migration are closely linked, but these connections are rarely linear. Migration and the environment is a complex, cross-cutting and multidimensional issue, in which push/pull factors come into play. Migration and the environment are often considered to be two separate issues, but there is a special need to link the two in order to move beyond a limited vision and support policies focused on long term action. Migration can be the result of gradual climate change (land degradation, deforestation, sea level rising...) or environmentally extreme events (tornados, tsunamis...), but in both cases the movement of people to urban or other rural areas can have a significant detrimental impact on the new environment.
According the Mr. Boncour, there is a need to simplify and consolidate a definition of environmental refugees. The proposed definition should recognize that changes may be progressive or sudden, the movement can be internal or international, and that the migrants are forced to leave their habitat. In most cases, these persons are in need of assistance and human rights protection. Moreover, coherent short-term policies, as well as long-term planning actions should be designed to cope with environmental migration and address the complex cause and effect nature of it. The IOM representative advocated action-oriented research (collection and analysis of data, evaluation mechanisms) and practical approaches (preparedness, early warning, response and recovery), mixing interdisciplinary dialogue, interagency and interstate cooperation, and the involvement of all the stakeholders.
The panel concluded with an open-discussion, where the audience, composed of representatives of Permanent Missions to the United Nations, NGO’s, UN Departments and Agencies, as well as academics and civil society, could ask questions to the panelists. Almost 110 people attended the event. This is worthy of mention as it is a rarity for four agencies and departments to convene and debate such a sensitive issue.
