• 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.

Why the qualification directive?

The directive was adopted in 2004 and sets a European minimum standard for receiving refugee status or subsidiary protection in any EU country. The directive will be amended this year or early next year, and the issue of who is eligible for protection will again be up for debate.

This is why finding out whether or not climate refugees (indirectly) already can be protected within the existing framework is very interesting and indeed useful. So far I have found no evidence indicating that climate refugees can receive any form of protection. Most of my attention has focused on the process leading up the adoption of the directive, and it doesn’t seem that the question even was at the agenda back then. I aim to get this hypothesis tested through interviews with some of the key actors from the process.

I will focus mainly on the directive itself, to see if it is possible to interpret concepts such as “serious harm”, “person eligible for subsidiary protection” or “actors of persecution” in a climate refugee setting.

Member states practices

Lastly, I aim to see of there are any cases of refugee recognition or subsidiary protection given to climate, or more generally environmental, refugees in member states. So far I have not found any, but I have received feedback from the Finish government that they have a national action plan in the making, on how to cope with mass influx of environmental refugees. This is sadly not public material though.

I will keep my blog updated with the latest findings and work on my dissertation as I progress. Read my first blog article here and I my overview page with some of my main sources so far.