In March 2023, heavy rains affected 40,000 people living in the northern Brazilian state of Acre, with up to 10,000 being displaced across the state. A week earlier, Cyclone Freddy made landfall in southern Africa, forcing 80,000 Africans to move away from home. The month before, almost 50,000 were looking for a new place to live after a flood in Malaysia. Going hungry because of a drought, losing a home due to a devastating flood, or being forced to move due to desertification or rising sea levels might seem a distant scenario to some people.
Still, it is already a reality for millions of communities living on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Known as “climate refugees,” they are experiencing the worst impacts of a warmer world. And as the threat of climate change increases globally, their numbers are expected to grow exponentially.
The term “climate refugees” refers to people who must leave their homes and communities because of the effects of climate change on their environment. It was coined in 1985 as a report title for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and reinforced in 1990 by the publication of the First Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Back then, scientists claimed that “the gravest effects of climate change may be those on human migration as millions will be displaced.” What they couldn’t predict is that it wouldn’t take long for this scenario to happen.
According to UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, “since 2008 an annual average of 21.5 million people have been forcibly displaced by … floods, storms, wildfires, extreme temperatures,” and other events.
Scientific studies indicate that the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events have increased over the past twenty years. As a result, according to UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, “since 2008 an annual average of 21.5 million people have been forcibly displaced by … floods, storms, wildfires, extreme temperatures,” and other events. By 2050, the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) estimates that there could be 1.2 billion climate refugees. To put this into perspective, over 15% of the world’s population is unable to live in their homeland, due to the impacts of changing climate.
Lack of Protection
Currently, there’s no international law to protect those displaced communities, making them invisible for many years in the migration and climate debates. And there’s still no widely agreed-upon definition for “climate refugee,” even though this term was recently added to the Oxford Dictionary. Most displaced communities are not even recognized as refugees under the terms of the 1951 Refugee Convention, meaning that states have no legal obligation to grant them entry. Therefore, climate refugees may be returned to their shattered homelands or placed in a refugee camp.
“People displaced for reasons linked to climate change may only fall within the legal definition of refugee in limited circumstances, for example, where effects of climate interact with conflict, violence, human rights abuses, and persecution.”
“People displaced for reasons linked to climate change may only fall within the legal definition of refugee in limited circumstances, for example, where effects of climate interact with conflict, violence, human rights abuses, and persecution,” says Natalie Schmidthaeussler, Office of the Special Advisor on Climate Action (UNHCR). It is also important to note that the term refugee is defined as a person who has crossed an international border; nevertheless, most people displaced by disasters and the adverse effects of climate change stay within their own countries. That’s why some agencies prefer to call them “climate migrants.” For the International Organization for Migration (IOM), “climate migration” is considered a subcategory of “environmental migration,” a broader definition for people forced to flee their homes because of naturally occurring disasters, such as erupting volcanoes and tsunamis.
Despite a lack of agreement over its definition, the term “climate refugee” has gained popularity in recent years and is now used by politicians, international organizations, NGOs, academics, and media outlets. And while no legal, internationally accepted definition for persons on the move due to environmental drivers exists to date, the good news is that international governments are starting to recognize climate migration as an issue that needs to be tackled.
A Matter of Climate Justice
At COP27, the 27th UN Climate Change Conference held in Egypt in November 2022, governments agreed that poor countries afflicted by climate breakdown should receive funds for “loss and damage” to help them recover and rebuild after extreme weather. Details on how the new global fund should operate are still to be worked out this year, but it must include some form of provision for migration.
This was a significant step towards the claims for “climate justice,” since it’s now well known that poorer nations face greater risks from climate change and are less able to adapt to them. In fact, many—but not all—climate refugees come from countries in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America.
According to Schmidthaeussler, the challenges faced by the governments of climate-vulnerable countries are immense; but many well-tested tools can assist: “Existing refugee and human rights instruments provide an important framework to support action that protects people displaced across and within borders. To avoid the worst outcomes, additional finance and support must be delivered at the scale and speed required to reach those who need it most.”
The Need for Climate Resilience
While reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting climate refugees with the help of the international community must be priorities for governments committed to fighting the climate crisis, strengthening the resilience of communities and ecosystems vulnerable to climate-induced hazards should also be a prime concern.
“Not every climate event is a disaster; it depends on where it happens. That’s why this is a matter of climate justice, and the solution is not to move those communities away from where they live, but to make them resilient to extreme weather events,” says Erika Ramos, co-founder of the South American Network for Environmental Migrations (RESAMA).
To protect people living in vulnerable areas, it is crucial to invest in climate adaptation. According to the Center for Climate and Energy, that includes “the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to hazardous events, trends, or disturbances related to climate. Improving climate resilience involves assessing how climate change will create new, or alter current, climate-related risks, and taking steps to better cope with these risks.”
According to the latest UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report 2022, however, countries are not doing enough. The report finds that adaptation planning, financing, and implementation efforts are not keeping pace with the growing risks. To Ramos, one of the reasons is that people who suffer the most are being sidelined in key decision-making processes, and they need to be heard.
“Refugees, displaced people, and their hosts are already playing their part in leading local action where it is needed most. They possess knowledge and capacities critical to effective and inclusive climate action. It is important to include them in the decisions that impact their lives. They have a right to participate, and their participation is necessary for lasting resilience,” says Schmidthaeussler.
*Jaqueline Sordi is a Brazilian journalist and biologist specializing in science and environmental journalism. She has a master’s degree in environmental journalism at UCLA and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in communications at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.