Displaced by Climate Change: Navigating Legal Framework for ‘Climate Refugees’ in International Environmental Law

Abstract

Climate change assumes the role of a catalyst, amplifying its impact across diverse facets of human security. Some of the most evident consequences of climate change include food insecurity, water scarcity, unequal access to resources, disease proliferation, and natural calamities such as earthquakes, avalanches, tsunamis, and mudslides, disrupting life and livelihoods and promoting migration and displacement, whether voluntary or forced, temporary or permanent, internal or across borders. Although climate change finds a place on the agendas of most countries, the interest of nations to shoulder the burdens arising from mass migration propelled by climate change is lacking. The profound scope of this evolving narrative remains unaddressed. This article unveils the rapidly emerging category of ‘climate refugees’ and distinguishes it from conventional refugee archetypes. The subsequent part brings forth the limitations of the existing international legal frameworks, such as the Refugee Convention of 1951, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the Paris Agreement, inadequately underscoring the unpredictable and varied experiences of climate refugees, and proposes to revisit the international legal framework for safeguarding the individuals impacted by displacement arising from climate-related factors.