The annual Global Humanitarian Forum is an independent and impartial global platform where different members of the global society collaborate in order to overcome key humanitarian concerns. The 2009 Forum entitled “Human Impact of Climate Change” took place in Geneva this past June and was focused on the human dimensions and impacts of climate change, in particular for international and development efforts.
The Global Humanitarian Forum has just released the complete video on YouTube from the “Climate change: migration and displacement” focus session at the 2009 Forum. This session was sponsored by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and was lead by the following representatives:
Craig Johnstone, Deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Walter Kälin, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons
Ndioro Ndiaye, Deputy Director General, International Organization of Migration (IOM)
(moderated by Nisha Pillai, BBC World News)
There are nine parts to the video and the whole session is about an hour and a half. During the session, some key points and questions are raised along with some recommendations on the way forward.
Erratic weather patterns and increasing droughts and floods due to climate change are causing people in rural Kenya to migrate to the urban centre of Nairobi. There is evidence that already crowded slums are being overwhelmed by constant arrivals of people who are seeking a better life due to loss of rural livelihoods in the southeastern and western regions of Kenya. Many will also move temporarily to nearby small towns or camps where international protection, aid, and long-term development is needed more than ever before.
Ciara Sutton is a multimedia broadcast journalist who worked on climate change migration issues in Kenya earlier this year as part of a project for her MA in International Journalism. The project is supported by interviews with international climate change professionals and representatives on the ground from the Red Cross. She authors her own blog “Climate Change and Human Migration in Kenya” where she documented her journey, examines the lives of migrants, and posts related stories.
Below is a recent video from her website which highlights the issue of climate-induced rural to urban migration in Kenya:
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has recently updated their policy paper entitled Climate change, natural disasters and human displacement: a UNHCR perspective, which was originally released October 2008. The 14-page paper looks at the human side of climate change, particularly the status and protection needs of those who are most directly affected.
The ongoing theme of this document is the need to encourage more research and reflection on the humanitarian and displacement challenges that climate change will generate. It opens with a quote from António Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees:
“Although there is a growing awareness of the perils of climate change, its likely impact on human displacement and mobility has received too little attention.”
The paper makes a huge advances in the recognition of environmental migrants from the October 2008 version, stating:
“While environmental factors can contribute to prompting cross-border movements, they are not grounds, in and of themselves, for the grant of refugee status under international refugee law. However, UNHCR does recognise that there are indeed certain groups of migrants, currently falling outside of the scope of international protection, who are in need of humanitarian and/or other forms of assistance.”
The paper is divided into four sections and examines the following:
1) foreseeable displacement scenarios,
2) their implications for UNHCR,
3) terminology and the 1951 Refugee Convention,
4) suggestions for the way forward.
According to the paper, UNHCR admits that it “might take some time to reach an agreement on the appropriate way forward” and “more work is needed to analyze the likely human displacement scenarios which climate change will cause, and to identify and fill any legal and operational gaps”. In the meantime, UNHCR “encourages the international community to adopt approaches based on respect for human rights and international cooperation”. UNHCR also believes that “the need for advocacy on climate change issues will remain in various fora into 2010 and beyond”.
‘Time to Click’ is an internet campaign calling on photographers around the world – professional and amateur alike – to help show the human face of climate change. Time to Click asks photographers to submit pictures that show how climate change affects their communities right now, and how it affects people in the places they’ve traveled to around the world. If you have any pictures to contribute to the campaign, learn how to add them by visiting the website.
Many of these images depict the causes of the mass displacement of human populations from the sudden and creeping effects of climate change. Click on the ‘fullscreen’ button and then ‘Show Info” on the slideshow above to see the description of each image. Alternatively, check out the Time to Click website or the campaign’s Flickr page.
The Time to Click campaign is part of ‘Tck Tck Tck’, an unprecedented global alliance of non-government organizations, trade unions, faith groups and people like you – all calling for an ambitious, fair and binding climate change agreement (timetoclick.org).
Here is an update for those of you that are following the lead up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) this December. More than 2,000 representatives met at the latest round of the Climate Change Talks, which took place on August 10-14. The committee had the current revised version of the negotiating text in front of them, which is to be fully agreed on by COP15 in order for a post-Kyoto climate deal to take place.
There was a single sentence that was inserted in the previous version of the negotiating text proposed at the June Climate Change Talks, which relates to environmental migration. It calls on nations to implement plans to adapt to climate change by accounting for these possible migrations. This sentence was found in subparagraph 25(e) and stated at the time:
“Activities related to national and international migration/planned relocation of climate
refugees.”
Since then, subparagraph 25(e) has been updated/expanded to the following:
“[Activities related to national and international migration/planned relocation of climate
[refugees] [migrants] [displaced persons by extreme climate events].]
Alternatives to subparagraph 25 (e):
Alternative 1
[Activities related to national and international responses to people displaced by the impacts of climate change]
Alternative 2
[Activities related to national and international migration and displacement or planned relocation of persons affected by adverse impact of climate change]
Alternative 3
[Activities related to national and international migration/planned relocation of displaced individuals and peoples due to the adverse effects of climate change]“
It should be noted that every entry in the negotiating text which is contained in [square brackets] is an indication that it’s an unresolved issue. As you can see, there is still no solid agreement on this specific entry in the negotiating document. Instead, many still unagreed alternative sentences are presented.
Briefing the media on the last day of the informal consultations in Bonn, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said that while selective progress had been made to consolidate the huge texts on the table, “at this rate, we will not make it”. “We seem to be afloat on a sea of brackets”, de Boer also said, referring to not only paragraph 25(e), but also the other unresolved issues in the text.
Work on the draft negotiating text will continue on September 28 in Bangkok at a two-week session. Delegates will then assemble for five days of pre-Copenhagen negotiations in Barcelona on November 2. The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen takes place from December 7-18, 2009. Do you think there will be a formal agreement made in time regarding the provision and financing mechanisms to protect people displaced by the impacts of climate change?
Harvard Law School has just published the second issue of thier semi-annual Harvard Environmental Law Review. The issue includes the article Confronting a Rising Tide: A Proposal for a Convention on Climate Change Refugees, which is authored by Harvard Law School lecturers Bonnie Docherty and Tyler Giannini. This is an excellent piece which advocates for formal recognition and protection of those who cross international borders when displaced by climate change. It also provides several advances in regards to the field.
Quoted from the introduction:
“This Article proposes a new legal instrument to confront the issue of climate change refugees. It defines climate change refugees as people whom climate change forces to relocate across national borders.
…
It provides a more in-depth examination of a climate change refugee legal instrument that draws on multiple areas of the law, including human rights, humanitarian, and international environmental law. It looks to legal precedent to provide models and support for its proposals, yet it adapts or departs from this precedent when appropriate to tackle the unique problem of climate change. The Article also crafts an original definition of climate change refugee, details a different combination of components for a binding instrument, and calls for implementing these components as an independent treaty.
…
This Article analyzes the limits of the refugee and climate change frameworks and the value of developing a convention that is separate from these legal regimes.”
It is divided into six parts:
Part I – Introduction
Part II – “Both illuminates the climate change refugee problem and the gap in existing international law and locates the proposed instrument within a larger, interdisciplinary framework for dealing with climate change migration.”
Part III – “Develops a definition for climate change refugee that builds on related law and academic literature yet is designed for the circumstances of climate change.”
Part IV – “Presents and analyzes nine essential components of an effective climate change refugee instrument that provides rights and aid for affected communities while ensuring that responsibility is shared.”
Part V – “Argues that the international community should realize the proposed instrument as an independent convention.”
Part VI – Conclusion
Towards Recognition applauds and endorses this highly progressive article. It is worth having an entire read-through. Please leave any comments or questions you may have about it.
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