Environmental migration – Up to our necks in water

International experts explained the role of climate change in global migratory movements at “The world upside down – For a new world risk community”, the Sunday matinee discussion organised by the Munich Re Foundation, Munich’s Kammerspiele Theatre, the Allianz Cultural Foundation and the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on 21 March 2010.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that there are already some 170 million migrants. “In the recent past, environmental migration has even overtaken conflict-induced migration, being as much as three times higher in some years”, Philippe Boncour of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva emphasised. If the world’s migrants constituted a single nation it would be the world’s sixth largest country, and the population would soar with so many livelihoods threatened by climate change.
 
Weather-related natural catastrophes and long-term environmental changes like water shortages and droughts are very much on the increase, forcing many people to migrate. For instance, the IPCC estimates that, by 2080, between two and seven million coastal inhabitants will be affected by flooding.
 
Are we prepared? Philippe Boncour believes we are; the institutions are in place, the tools have been developed, as can be seen from the IOM’s field work throughout the world. However, Koko Warner, of the United Nations University in Bonn, pointed out that a number of key factors, such as clear international rules and regulations, are still lacking. “The UN may be slow but it does offer a major platform for global dialogue, systematically formulating sustainable solutions.” However, Robin Bronen, a human rights lawyer who has worked for many years with the Inuit, the indigenous peoples of Alaska, warned that “the polar ice and permafrost are melting fast in Alaska and, for years, the winters have been too warm.” The Inuit are being forced to abandon their native lands because soil erosion is causing their homes to subside. “These people haven’t got time for step by step policies. They need to relocate right away.” People from Pacific isalnds are facing the same problem. In the case of small island states like Tuvalu and Kiribati, rising sea levels are forcing thousands of inhabitants to emigrate to Australia and New Zealand. They also have to act right now.
 
Not even the experts know how many people are migrating due to climate and environmental changes. Many politicians object to the term “environmental refugee”, “refugee” being a legal term used in the 1951 Geneva Convention. This has given rise to “environmental migrants”, “environmentally induced migrants” or even artificially coined terms like “climigrant”. Boncour pointed out that migratory movements often take place within national borders. “That doesn’t make it any easier to formulate strategy rules and draft international policies.”
 
Governments need to demonstrate a greater political will to conclude agreements, which means a lot more data will be needed. “Ultimately, we need to ensure people have a secure, dignified existence,” Robin Bronen argued. “Displaced persons have to adapt to their new surroundings. In other words, it’s also about major issues involving loss of homeland, traditions, socio-cultural and political environment, health and personal lifestyle.” More research is needed into environmental migration and it has to take greater priority on the political agenda if viable solutions are to be found.
 
Panel members:
Philippe Boncour, policy expert and Head of the International Dialogue on Migration Division of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Geneva
 
Robin Bronen, expert on indigenous peoples and forced migration (the Inuit), human rights attorney and fellow of the National Science Foundation in Fairbanks, Alaska
 
Koko Warner, expert on climate change and environmental migration, Head of the Environmental Migration, Social Vulnerability and Adaptation Section at the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security in Bonn, Germany
 
Panel moderator:
Andrian Kreye, Arts Editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper

25 March 2010