Climate Change and International Migration: Environmental Refugees

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Climate Change and International Migration: Environmental Refugees
Human migrations motivated by situations of socio-environmental stress are not new in human history. Human dependence on the environment has existed since the dawn of humanity, as well as negative interference in nature through the alteration of ecological balances (GOUDIE, 2006). This relationship, which seemed to be dominated only by the supposed human cognitive and technological superiority, has suffered setbacks that shows how vulnerable man himself is in the face of the fragilities of the environment around him.
Unsustainable consumption practices, the drastic alteration of the environment to make way for cities and large buildings, the combination of chemical compounds harmful to fauna and flora, as well as other factors of direct interference in the environment, show that the impact of the presence not only can it be negative for the environment, but in the mid- and long-term, for the survival of the human species.
The extreme climatic change and variability perceived with greater intensity in the last three decades (IPCC, 2001) is a clear demonstration of this fragile relationship, even when the environmental event itself does not seem to have a direct correlation with anthropic interference in the environment. In view of this issue, some theories are commonly used to explain the socio-environmental relationship in a context of climate change, of which (i) risk, (ii) danger and (iii) vulnerability stand out.
Vulnerability and risk, much more than danger, are key categories to identify how environmental changes, whether local or global, have interfered in man's relationship with the environment in which he lives. The vulnerability will measure the degree of a system’s susceptibility to disturbances that affect its balance, as well as its capacity to respond to the situation.
To this end, it must be considered that the socio-environmental relationship is the pillar and the starting point of the analysis of vulnerabilities and risk: it is according to the degree of society's interference in nature that it will be possible to understand how the great environmental changes influence and are influenced by human intervention in the environment. Nevertheless, the complexity of human systems and environmental systems must be considered, which in itself makes it impossible to arrive at a common denominator or a unique solution to the problem.
Keywords: Environmental Refugees; International Migration; Climate changes; UN Convention on the Status of Refugees; Global Migration and Environmental Governance.
Introduction
The existence of environmental refugees is not new in human history, since migratory movements motivated by adverse environmental conditions are frequent in the historical study of civilizations (Berchin et al. 147-150). What is new is the intensification of the worldwide flow of environmental refugees, especially towards the end of the 20th century and in this first decade of the 21st century, and the consequences, for people and for nature, of this dizzying increase in forced migrants induced by situations of socio-environmental stress.
Such an intensification of the worldwide flow of environmental refugees may be due both to anthropic interference in the environment and climate change effects that are independent of the anthropogenic factor (Berchin et al. 147-150). It is also known that climate change and variability have a direct cause not only in natural geophysical cycles but are also directly triggered by the indiscriminate use of chemical compounds harmful to nature, which, consequently, end up making it difficult or impossible for human permanence in certain locations on the planet.
If, on the one hand, modernity has brought incalculable benefits to science, technology and living conditions, on the other hand, it has greatly contributed to the deterioration of the natural environment and to the subjugation of species of flora and fauna to human needs in Europe (Berchin et al. 147-150). Tragedy of common goods was announced, intensified throughout the twentieth century, especially after the Second World War.
The growing scarcity of natural resources and the intensification of extreme weather events have caused the most diverse situations on society and nature, including the mass migration of people who often move outside their country of origin in search of protection against these extreme natural events (Myers 752-761).
The issue of environmental refugees poses major challenges to society, politics, the economy and the law (Mayer 28-42). Although today the largest flows of environmental refugees are within the territory of sovereign states, international migration induced by environmental disasters increased over the last thirty years, and has the potential to generate hundreds of millions to 1 billion immigrants at a time when many countries in the world restrict migration policies in their geographic space (Myers 752-761).
The major problem surrounding the environmental refugee, as opposed to internally displaced persons, is that the refugee is necessarily a non-national and, because he does not have the nationality of the State to which he was forced to migrate, he finds obstacles to entry and permanence in the country, not to mention the linguistic, cultural and access difficulties to the labor market (Myers 752-761).
This research aims at discussing the topic of environmental refugees, associating it with climate change and the international flow of immigrants from islands and coastal regions most affected by the advancing of seas and oceans. The research paper will also discuss the topic...