Climate Refugee and Disappearing States: In Need for a New Legal Regime?

Abstract

Climate change brings unprecedented challenges to both the international community as well as international law. For example, extreme weather conditions might cause States to disappear and force its populations to migrate. These phenomenon creates new challenges for current international law. First, under current legal frameworks, there is no provision regarding the disappearance of a State due to climate change . Second, for people who are forced to migrate due to climate change whether caused internally or internationally, current legal framework is also unclear to whether they could be classified as refugees and to what extent should they be protected. Despite these uncertainties, people of these endangered States cannot be left to fend themselves simply because there is a legal vacuum. This paper proposes a way forward for to meet this challenge and urge the international community to use this opportunity to refine the currently existing legal regime in order to solve the various challenges posed by climate change.