Climate Refugees: A Comprehensive and Legal Analysis to Understanding Climate Change-Induced Migration and Displacement

Abstract

It is a sad but persistent reality that climate change may lead to migration of people from places that are not viable for living. The impact of climate change is widespread and can cause both displacement and deterioration of living conditions for the lower segments of society. Although many countries’ immigration policies adapt to the unfortunate environmental crisis, they do not yet fully offer a safe solution to the accelerating trend of climate refugees. Forced climate migrants fall into the cracks of international refugee and immigration policies. There is considerable resistance to expanding the definition of political refugees and including climate “refugees”. This paper is a doctrinal legal research-based analysis to understand forced migration and displacement in the light of climate change. The paper draws the background from the various displacement situations around the world and focuses on the current legal regime around the topic in International Environmental Law and International Refugee Law.