Exploring legal avenues for the protection of environmental migrants through a rights lens

Abstract

The increased severity of climate change has upended many set ways and also uprooted many lives. Climate-induced migration and displacement is an issue growing at a speed much faster than that at which law and public policy are able to comprehend and combat, with those socio-economically disadvantaged being dispro-portionately impacted. This chapter analyses and critiques the existing paradigm of international law and its various constituents, enabling nation-states to not only accommodate migrants both within and across borders but also formulate informed policies within their own legal systems. Recognizing two challenges, one, the differ-ence in usage between environmental migrant and climate refugee in legal/policy documents, and two, the adequacy or lack thereof under international to cope with the burgeoning crisis; the authors analyse protections already existing under refugee and human rights law, as well as discuss the interpretations adopted at the academic and organisational level. The authors argue that there is a disconnect between the magnitude of the issue and the legal remedy available thereto and that swift and comprehensive action is required.