The abstract:

Environmentally displaced persons can be included in several existing categories of protected persons under international law, but there may be a normative protection gap for many of those who cross an international border. This article looks at protection possibilities within the EU framework and national European legislations. Environmental displacement can arguably trigger temporary protection according to the EU Temporary Protection Directive. There may also be environmentally displaced persons who require longer-term or permanent protection. Drawing on the EU Qualification Directive and case-law from the European Court of Human Rights, one can argue that subsidiary protection should be granted in certain cases of extreme natural disaster or degradation. In less extreme cases, humanitarian asylum could be granted. Human rights principles such as non-refoulement could also be used to extend at least basic protection. In addition, legal labour migration could supply a work force, assist distressed countries and enhance protection of the individual. A strategy to meet the challenge of environmental displacement must also include climate change mitigation and external measures such as adaptation. Most of the displaced persons in the world today and in the near future do not arrive at the EU borders.

Key Words: environmental displacement, climate change, human rights, temporary protection, subsidiary protection, humanitarian asylum, non-refoulement, legal migration,

• The renowned NGO Oxfam released a report on Climate Change in the Pacific this week. It is worth a read, as it highlights the changes that are already taking place in the pacific and for the people living there and what must be done. I can recommend the report itself and a short description at the towardsrecognition.org website.
• The Financial Times also covered the issue summarizing some of the debate the topic of environmental migration/displacement and using illustrative examples in their weekend issue some time back.
• The Economist also dedicated a few pages on the topic in an article in their last June issue, called “A new (under) class of travellers“
• CARE International, UN University  and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at the Earth Institute of Columbia University launched a report in May called “In Search of Shelter: Mapping the Effects of Climate Change on Human Migration and Displacement“, and is also worth a read:

I do not have time to write summaries of each and every one of these sources, but I hope it can be useful to know about their whereabouts at least.

The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) launches a new transatlantic grantmaking initiative that investigates the impact of climate change on migration patterns. The initiative will convene leading experts on climate-induced migration to develop a final report on policy solutions for stakeholders and policymakers.

Another initiative is launched to research the links between climate change and migration by the German Marshall Fund. You can read more about it at their web-site. This project is now one of many researching this topic and has gathered leading experts in the field.

I can also recommend this website (towardsrecognition.org) advocating recognition of environmentally displaced persons.

The side event on forced migration and climate change is on the 8th of June

Furthermore, the latest negotiation text includes a reference to human mobility (para 25 e), which we can just hope will stay in the text also after the Bonn-negotiations. I have yet to find an EU position on this issue. Please feel free to let me know if you happen to sit on that information.

The think tank headed by Kofi Annan, Global Humanitarian Forum, published a report last week on the human impact of climate change, covering a wide range of issues including environmentally displaced persons. The report does not bring too much new facts on the table regarding this issue, but it has some interesting case-studies illustrating the devastating impact of climate change in Bangladesh, Ghana and and small island states. The report contributes to the growing recognition of the subject and is definitively worth a read.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) published a policy paper on climate change and displacement in May, which is also worth a read together with a New York Times article on the topic that came out last week. There finally seem to be a momentum to recognize the issue at the international level and hopefully the end-text in Copenhagen will address this issue properly.