Humanity on the move

Summary

Climate change increasingly is a reason for displacement and migration. This may be because of a particular catastrophic event, but it can also be the result of cumulative impacts of drought or sea-level rise, slowly making an area uninhabitable. The majority of people who become displaced, remain in their own country, but a number cross international borders, and this is likely to increase as climate change impacts on entire regions and ecosystems. Nations have an obligation to offer asylum to refugees, but under the legal definitions of the refugee, still based on the 1951 Refugee Convention, this does not include those who have to leave their home because of climate change. Therefore, many people cannot find a safe place to live. At the same time, the world’s wealthiest countries spend more on arming their borders to keep migrants out, than on tackling the climate crisis that forces people from their homes in the first place, even when exactly these countries have caused climate change. It is therefore important to investigate more just alternatives for the way we are dealing with climate change, migration and the organisation of space today.