The Urgency of Forward Thinking: The Fate of Climate Migrants Without Legal Refugee Status

A week does not go by when we do not hear about people displaced from their homes, their cities, and even their countries because of flooding, fires, and a host of other weather-related destructions. Those forced to flee from the ensuing chaos are often called climate-displaced populations or climate migrants. With the increased rises in sea levels, famines associated with droughts, and rise in deadly weather patterns, those residing in volatile climate regions, especially islands, will likely be the first globally recorded climate-displaced populations with complete loss of habitats and cultural heritages. Most of us do not stop long enough to ask ourselves what happens to those fleeing because of the climate crisis, especially if they must leave their countries of origin and seek refuge in countries other than their own. Perhaps, this is the time to start thinking about the long-term implications of not having legal and cross-national border agreements about what happens to those displaced by climate change, if they seek help in other countries.

Climate-displaced migrants should have the same legal protections as those accorded by host countries to refugees fleeing their countries of origin for fear of persecution. The rights are based on international law and human rights and are enshrined in the United Nations Refugee Convention of 1951, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Those rights include the right to stay and not be expelled by the host country, access to justice, the right to education, employment, and housing, as well as freedom of movement and religion, and protection of personal property. Currently, the 1951 Refugee Convention treaty defines a refugee as any individual whose forceful fleeing of a country and inability to return to that country is connected to war, persecution, or violence because of fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Climate displacement is not one of those reasons. Although we cannot predict how many people are forcibly displaced each day by the ongoing climate crisis, we know that the number has exponentially increased each year with unimaginable tolls. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that nearly 32 million people were forced to leave their homes in 2022 due to weather-related hazards. This was a 41 percent increase from the displacements in 2008, meaning climate migration is increasing. Meanwhile, migration narratives remain focused on the push-pull factors inciting migration with no meaningful reference to forced climate-related migration, a major push factor for migration.

Initially used in 1985 to define those forced to leave their homelands because of environmental disruptions, the term “climate refugees” has not been formalized into a universal law by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide a legal right for those forced to cross international borders in search of safety from climate-related disasters. The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council has acknowledged that climate-displaced individuals are “the world’s forgotten victims” because they do not have the same rights as those accorded to those fleeing violence and persecution. Despite this imminent nature of displacement, “climate refugees” are presently not recognized in international law for purposes of warranting asylum when crossing international borders. Asylum legally gives those fleeing the right to seek protection from persecution within countries that have signed the 1951 Refugee Convention. Although regional laws may protect displaced populations fleeing climate-related crises, there are no formal legal protections that would facilitate safe relocations, without contestation, under the current United Nations convention enforcements.

As the climate crisis soars, the countries that signed the 1951 Refugee Convention should consider creating a consensus to revisit and redefine what constitutes a refugee to include those displaced by the ongoing climate crisis. Climate-displaced populations are often resilient and adaptable, bringing meaningful resources that include knowledge transfer, positive networks, and growth to communities of resettlement. An ethical responsibility would be to create a legal premise because climate displacement can seem far removed, unrelatable, and the preserve of a few nations, until it happens in our backyards, and worse still, in our front yards.

Osebe E. Kebaya, MSW, LCSW

PhD Student/ Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant

School of Social Work  

Colorado State University