While human migration driven by environmental factors has occurred for centuries, the effects of global climate change are increasingly contributing to higher levels of migration and displacement. As a result, climate migration has become a significant issue that remains largely overlooked. People displaced by climate change are not yet officially recognized as “refugees,” and the term “climate migrant” has only recently gained traction in international discourse, particularly through the African Guiding Principles on the Human Right of All Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers. But why is it so difficult to settle on a universally accepted term for those displaced by environmental factors, such as “migrants,” “refugees,” or “displaced persons”?

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The proliferation of these terms highlights the challenges in distinguishing between types of movement—whether permanent or temporary, voluntary or forced. The debate arises when trying to apply labels like “migrant,” as defined by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), or “refugee,” as set by the 1951 Geneva Convention. Of these terms, “refugee” and “displaced person” seem most closely tied to climate and environmental displacement. Climate refugees or displaced persons represent a distinct category, where the causes of mobility are specifically linked to the impacts of development in the Anthropocene.1 Relevant UN agencies and the IOM have considered the use of the term “refugee” to be inappropriate in the context of climate displacement. They have argued that it would neither be practical nor feasible to broaden the definition of “refugee” under the 1951 Refugee Convention to include additional categories of people, such as those displaced by environmental factors. In March 2018, the UN Human Rights Council found that many climate refugees do not fit the definition of “refugees” and the World Economic Forum has labelled climate migrants “the world’s forgotten victims,” noting they don’t meet the legal definition of refugees and lack protections against threats like deportation. To address this, governments and legal bodies must recognize climate change as a human rights issue and acknowledge the dangers faced by climate refugees, even if these threats are not as immediate as those faced by war refugees.
Continuer la lecture de « The Impact of Climate Change on Migration in Africa: A Growing Crisis »Climate change is the defining challenge of our times: a challenge which interacts with and reinforces the other global megatrends such as population growth, urbanization, and growing food, water and energy insecurity. It is a challenge which is adding to the scale and complexity of human displacement; and a challenge that has important implications for the maintenance of international peace and security.
António Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
(in an address to the United Nations Security Council Briefing “Maintenance of International Peace and Security: “New Challenges to International Peace and Security and Conflict Prevention“, 23 November 2011)
- Agence Française de Développement (AFD). “The Question of our Era: What to do about Climate Migration.” March 2024 [↩]