ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Photo taken from http://amisnet.org/

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?People are forced to move due to climate change:

THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM

• shoreline erosion, coastal flooding and severe drought

• storms, floods, and heat and cold waves, coastlines, flood-lines and steep slopes

• desertification, lack of water, salination of irrigated lands and the depletion of bio-diversity

People are

forced to move

to bigger cities

and to live on

the margins of

society because

they have no

chance of

development.

Photo taken from http://amisnet.org

THEY DON'T HAVE A STATUS OR A NAME.

THEY ARE CALLED:

“environmental migrant&refugee”

"forced environmental

migrant"

"environmentally motivated migrant"

"climate refugee"

"climate change refugee"

"environmentally displaced person

(EDP)""disaster refugee"

"environmental displacee"

"eco-refugee""ecologically

displaced person"

THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR

MIGRATION PROPOSES THREE TYPES OF

ENVIRONMENTAL MIGRANTS:

• people who flee temporarily due to an environmental disaster or sudden environmental event. (Examples: someone forced to leave due to hurricane, tsunami, earthquake, etc.)

Environmental emergency migrants

• people who have to leave due to deteriorating environmental conditions. (Example: someone forced to leave due to a slow deterioration of their environment such as deforestation, coastal deterioration, etc.)

Environmental forced migrants • people who choose to leave to

avoid possible future problems. (Example: someone who leaves due to declining crop productivity caused by desertification)

Environmental motivated migrants also known as

environmentally induced economic migrants

CLIMATE AFFECTS US ALL, BUT DOES NOT

AFFECT US ALL EQUALLY, PEOPLE WHO ARE

MOST AT RISK ARE FROM:

Mongolia Bangladesh Kenya Nicaragua

Uganda SomaliaSouth Pacific

India

The 90% of these migrations take place in those countries that did not contribute to climate change.

WHAT CAN WE DO?• They currently have no adequate recognition in international law,

so their status should be legally recognised.

• We should reduce pollution, so we should introduce a kind of economy that is able to respect the surrounding environment.

• A 2012 Asian Development Bank study says: "To reduce migration compelled by worsening environmental conditions, and to strengthen resilience of at-risk communities, governments should adopt polices and commit financing to social protection, livelihoods development, basic urban infrastructure development, and disaster risk management."