Environmental refugee

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wars also over limited global resources , power struggles, famines or the consequences of man-made global warming hit especially those who have usually contributed particularly little to it
(Image: Somali refugees,
see also climate justice )

As environmental refugees are referred to people who are due to environmental changes or natural disasters are forced to leave their homes and on the flight to proceed. In the event that man-made global warming is seen as the cause of environmental change, one also speaks of climate refugees .

Exact figures on the extent of environmental flight do not exist because it has not yet been clearly defined, legally clarified or statistically uniformly recorded. Estimates of migration due to environmental problems ( environmental migration ) or related problems assume an order of magnitude between roughly 50 and 150 million affected people.

term

Legal situation

Environmental refugees are not recognized as refugees within the meaning of Article 1 of the Geneva Refugee Convention (Agreement on the Status of Refugees) of 1951, and therefore as Convention refugees . In the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 - still fully influenced by the events of the Second World War - this international law treaty explicitly bases an escape on purely personal and social reasons, namely “persecution on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, affiliation to a certain social group or because of his political convictions ”. However, material personal emergencies such as hunger or serious economic problems, and all external circumstances such as war or environmental degradation and natural disasters are not recorded. The 1967 Protocol on the Legal Status of Refugees , in which the temporal and spatial limitations originally set out in the Geneva Refugee Convention were rejected, also follows this concept. These agreements have been ratified by around 150 of the around 200 countries worldwide and are therefore considered the international standard in asylum.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ) has so far based its definition of refugees on the description in the Geneva Convention. Only in more recent publications has the UNHCR devoted itself to the phenomenon and recognizes natural disasters as the reason for refugee movements.

Until the beginning of the 2000s, only Sweden , Finland and the USA had the option of obtaining temporary asylum rights due to natural disasters.

The two central directives of the European Union, which go beyond the UN Refugee Convention, the Qualification Directive (also Recognition Directive, 2004/2011, subsidiary protection ) and the Mass Inflow Directive (2001, temporary protection ) have so far not given any possibility of recognizing environmental refugees as such refer explicitly to persecution or displacement.

In October 2015, 109 states adopted the Nansen protection agenda (“Agenda for the protection of cross-border displaced persons in the context of disasters and climate change”). This agenda contains measures in the areas of disaster risk reduction, adaptation to climate change and humanitarian aid. Building on this, the “Platform on Disaster Displacement” was launched in May 2016, based in Geneva.

The preamble to the Paris Climate Treaty , which was passed by 196 countries in 2015, also points out that countries must urgently meet their obligations towards migrants and other particularly vulnerable groups as a result of climate change.

On the basis of their New York Declaration of 2016, the member states of the United Nations started a process in 2017 that is expected to be completed by the end of 2018 with the “Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration”. This also corresponds to the UN Sustainability Goal 10.7 adopted in 2015 (“Facilitating orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, among other things through the application of a well-planned and well-managed migration policy”) in connection with Goal 13 (“Immediate action to combat climate change and its effects ”). The Human Rights Committee of the United Nations determined in 2020 that the climate crisis can be a reason for asylum and that a country cannot deport anyone who seeks asylum because the climate crisis endangers their lives in their home country.

Differentiation from other forms of flight

The term goes back to the scientist Essam El Hinnawi , who introduced it in 1985 as part of a report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Since then it has been used in a variety of ways, but has only rudimentarily gained acceptance. In particular, the numerous different scientific definitions of environmental flight make the term unclear. For example, if the productivity of the soil falls due to soil erosion, the harvest is reduced, which leads to losses in crop yields and in the disposable income of the rural population. At some point people will leave such a degraded area, and it is unclear whether they should be classified as environmental or economic refugees, since both are possible in principle. The classification of refugees becomes equally difficult due to the term climate refugee, which was later introduced in connection with global warming . If regional tensions and even armed conflicts arise due to a lack, the transition to war refugees is fluid.

causes

The world map shows areas in which, due to climate change, local environmental changes could lead to climate exodus.
Pink: hurricanes / tropical cyclones - yellow: desertification / drought - blue: changes due to rising sea levels (islands, deltas)

Numerous different environmental changes are named as the cause of the emergence of environmental refugees, including desertification , soil erosion , salinisation of the soil and water shortage . Due to climate changes as a result of global warming , numerous climate refugees may have to emigrate to more moderate climatic zones in the future .

According to Frank Biermann , the causes of environmental flight can be divided into four main groups:

  • Deposition - areas made uneconomical or even uninhabitable due to pollution such as excessive use of pesticides
  • Degradation - local environmental degradation which makes the previous way of life impossible, e.g. B. by lack of water
  • Disasters - natural disasters , including those caused by humans
  • Destabilization - social networks stressed by environmental degradation and finally falling apart, a development that can even lead to war

According to the United Nations, climate change can lead to migration movements for four reasons. These include the loss of national territory due to rising sea levels , the consequences of this rise in the form of coastal erosion or salinisation of coastal areas, widening deserts and, finally, the lack of resources such as water or soil due to climate change.

Forecasts

Due to incomplete statistics, a lack of legal definition and the associated difficulties in recording, there are no exact figures on the extent of environmental displacement. It is particularly difficult to forecast because the causes mentioned can lead to migration movements, but do not have to be. If, for example, there is a need to migrate due to environmental changes and there is also a desire to migrate, but the necessary resources for migration are not available, those affected have no opportunity to migrate and are necessarily immobile. According to a study by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC), 36 million people worldwide were displaced as a result of natural disasters in 2008, 17 million in 2009 and over 42 million in 2010. After an early November 2017 run-up to the UN According to a report published by the Oxfam aid organization at the COP 23 climate conference in Bonn , almost 24 million people around the world were on the run in 2016, mainly from poorer countries, due to extreme weather conditions. Residents of poorer nations therefore have a five times higher risk of being displaced as a result than residents of richer countries. Between 2008 and 2016, an average of around 14 million people from poorer countries are said to have sought protection from bad weather, storms and floods every year.

Frédérik Kok from the Norwegian office of the IDMC: "The large development projects - building dams, industrial centers or plantations - make between 5 million and 15 million people homeless every year."

A UNU communication from 2005 named the Yemeni capital Sanaa as an example of the threat of climate migration, in which the groundwater "could be used up by 2010". The city's population rose by 585,000 between 2004 and 2010 to almost 2.3 million. So far, there has been no climate exodus due to lack of water.

In 2005, the United Nations University (UNU) published a study according to which the number of environmental refugees would rise to up to 50 million by 2010. Norman Myers from Oxford University made such a prognosis . The United Nations distanced itself from the forecast in 2011. The predicted environmental disasters had not yet materialized. According to official statistics, the population in the alleged danger regions even increased during this period. According to official figures, the population also grew in the other countries classified as particularly endangered on the UNEP world map, such as Bangladesh, the Cook Islands and Western Sahara. Relocation to the mainland is already planned for South Sea islands such as Tuvalu . Nevertheless, the population is holding up, possibly because many islands are getting larger due to sediment washed up in spite of rising sea levels.

In the professional world, Norman Myers methods and prognoses are criticized. Stephen Castles of the International Migration Institute at Oxford University found that people rarely crossed national borders in response to environmental disasters, war or poverty. Most of them fled within the national borders and returned to their homeland at the next opportunity.

At the end of July 2007, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) forecast the number of climate refugees in 2050 to be around 200 million.

Examples

The sinking village of Shishmaref on Sarichef Island in northern Alaska

The island of Sarichef Island off the Seward Peninsula on the Chukchi Sea in the north of the US state of Alaska is losing more and more space due to the Bering Strait , which is ice-free in summer and the arctic autumn and winter storms that strike unhindered . The village of Shishmaref on top of it, with almost 600 residents of predominantly indigenous Alaskan descent ( Inupiat - Eskimos ), has already lost individual houses. Since 2002 the residents have decided to resettle several times, most recently in 2016; they are considered the first environmental refugees in North America . The costs are estimated at around 300 million dollars, but no concrete plans have yet been developed. The necessary resettlement is also associated with fears of the loss of their own indigenous language ( Inupiaq ) and culture.

Even the largest northern town in Greenland, Thule or “ Qaanaaq ”, with its location only four meters above sea level, is already suffering from the effects of climate change with the melting of the polar ice caps (-> documentary ThuleTuvalu ).

The nomads of Mongolia , mainly populated and cultivated by them, are threatened in their existence due to the accumulation of the regional extreme weather conditions " Dsud ".

South Sea islands or island states such as the Carteret or Fiji islands, Kiribati , Tuvalu or the Maldives are in some cases already in acute danger of sinking ; on the Marshall Islands in the Pacific z. For example, drinking water is becoming increasingly scarce due to salt water intrusion and the salination of wells due to the entry of sea water.

Discussion about the Syria conflict

According to a study by Colin Kelley of the University of California et al. The 2015 wave of refugees from the Syria conflict can already be seen as a phenomenon of climate flight. From 2007 to 2010 there was an extreme drought of several years in Syria . The authors see climate change and a failed agricultural policy, which made Syria particularly vulnerable in times of drought, as reasons for the massive slump in agriculture and the rise in food prices.

Many scientists criticize the study; In the opinion of Thomas Bernauer, conflict researcher at the ETH Zurich , "the whole work is problematic, it does a disservice to climate research":

  • According to the UN climate report , it is currently not possible to reliably simulate the climate of Syria, as the country lies on the border of three climate regions and the weather patterns in this region are still barely understood. The simulations of the climate models differ widely, especially when it comes to precipitation. According to climate researcher Tim Brücher from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and statistician William Briggs from Cornell University , the influence of the greenhouse effect cannot be reliably assessed because of the very different results of various models.
  • On the other hand, the influences of land use and thus the change of the soil in its function as a water reservoir were not taken into account by the study. According to Tim Brücher, however, this is a more obvious reason for the drought. According to Francesca De Châtel, Syria expert at Radboud University Nijmegen , the drought in Syria from 2007 to 2010 can essentially be explained by “50 years of failed management”. Excessive groundwater extraction, overuse of the soil by grazing animals and agricultural exploitation are the main causes. "The role of climate change is not only irrelevant, its emphasis even harmful". Because the climate argument allows politicians to look for the culprits for the famines outside the country, although they are actually responsible for the mismanagement themselves.
  • From discussions with local people, the peace researcher Christiane Fröhlich ( University of Hamburg ) draws the conclusion that only a small proportion of those who fled the drought subsequently became insurgents. Rather, the civil war was provoked by rather wealthy residents. An overview study by experts led by Ole Magnus Theisen from the Technical and Natural Sciences University of Norway (NTNU) also came to the conclusion: "We have not found any evidence of a connection between drought and conflict," the main causes of civil wars are political.

See also

literature

  • Frank Biermann: Environmental refugees. Causes and possible solutions . Federal Agency for Civic Education, Bonn 2001 ( Weblink , bpb.de).
  • Molly Conisbee, Andres Simms: Environmental Refugees - The Case for Recognition . New Economics Foundation Pocket Book, London 2003 ( PDF , neweconomics.org).
  • Cord Jakobeit, Chris Methmann: Climate Refugees. Study on behalf of Greenpeace Germany, University of Hamburg, 2007 ( PDF, 1.4 MB , greenpeace.de).
  • Fabrice Renaud, Janos J. Bogardi, Olivia Dun, Koko Warner : Control, Adapt or Flee. How to Face Environmental Migration? UNU EHS, InterSecTions 5/07, 2007 ( PDF , ehs.unu.edu).
  • Rafael Reuveny: Environmental Change, Migration and Conflict: Theoretical Analysis and Empirical Explorations . Paper presented at the International Workshop “Human Security and Climate Change” in Asker, Norway, June 21-23, 2005 ( PDF , cicero.uio.no).
  • Bogumil Terminski: Environmentally Induced Displacement. Theoretical Frameworks and Current Challenges. Université de Liège, 2012 ( PDF, 916 kB ,).
  • Wei-Yin Chen, Maximilian Lackner et al .: Handbook of Climate Change Mitigation. Springer, New York 2012. ISBN 978-1-4419-7990-2 [Print]; ISBN 978-1-4419-7991-9 [eBook]

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Comp. to Nora Markard : war refugees: violence against civilians in armed conflict as a challenge for the refugee and subsidiary protection. Volume 60 of Jus Internationale et Europaeum ( ISSN  1861-1893 ), Verlag Mohr Siebeck, 2012, ISBN 978-3-16-151794-5 , chapter Meaning and interpretation of the Geneva Refugee Convention, p. 13 ff ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ↑ Bogumil Terminski; Towards Recognition and Protection of Forced Environmental Migrants in the Public International Law: Refugee or IDPs Umbrella . Policy Studies Organization (PSO) Summit, December 2011, ogA
  3. ^ UNHCR: The State of the World's Refugees - Displacement in the New Millennium. 2006 ( see online , unhcr.org).
  4. ↑ United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants: World Refugee Survey 2003 ( see online ( Memento of December 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), refugees.org).
  5. ↑ Nansen Protection Agenda for People Fleeing Natural Disasters, Volume 1 (PDF, Number of pages 56, 6.0 MB, English)
  6. ↑ Nansen protection agenda for people fleeing natural disasters, Volume 2 (PDF, number of pages 104, 2.4 MB, English)
  7. ^ Platform on Disaster Displacement, accessed August 7, 2018
  8. ^ Diana Ionesco, Daria Mokhnacheva, Francois Gemenne: Atlas of environmental migration . oekom, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-86581-837-9 , p. 169 .
  9. ^ The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), accessed August 7, 2018
  10. ↑ Susanne Schwarz: Climate flight can justify asylum claims. In: Klimareporter. January 22, 2020, accessed on January 24, 2020 (German).
  11. ↑ UN human rights ruling could boost climate change asylum claims. In: UN News. January 21, 2020, accessed on January 24, 2020 .
  12. ^ Black, Richard (2001): Environmental refugees: myth or reality? New Issues in Refugee Research , No. 34, Geneva / Sussex ( PDF ( memento of June 24, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), jha.ac).
  13. ^ Biermann, Frank (2001): Umweltflüchtlinge. Causes and approaches , in: From Politics and Contemporary History 12/2001, pp. 24–29 (PDF; 64 kB) .
  14. ↑ Migration through climate change? Tanja El-Cherkeh, HWWI Update 09 2009.
  15. ^ Brzoska, M., Kalinowski, MB, Matthies, V. and Meyer, B .: Climate change and conflicts. Securitization versus preventive peace policy ?. Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden.
  16. ↑ Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (2011): Displacement due to natural hazard-induced disasters: Global estimates for 2009 and 2010 ( Memento of March 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) .
  17. ↑ tagesschau.de: Report on climate change: The displacement of the poor. Accessed November 3, 2017 (German).
  18. ↑ Rekacewicz, Philippe (2008): Those who cannot stay must flee , in: Le Monde diplomatique , Berlin, March 2008, pp. 1, 12-13, see online .
  19. ↑ United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (2005): As Ranks of "Environmental Refugees" Swell Worldwide, Calls Grow for Better Definition, Recognition, Support . Press release, October 12, see online .
  20. ↑ Axel Bojanowski : Warning from 2005 Forecast on climate refugees puts UN in distress , Der Spiegel , April 17, 2011.
  21. ↑ Axel Bojanowski: Warning from 2005 Forecast on climate refugees puts UN in distress , Der Spiegel , April 17, 2011.
  22. ↑ Study warns of millions of refugees , in: Focus , July 27, 2009.
  23. ↑ The invisible climate refugees. Retrieved March 14, 2019 (UK English).
  24. ↑ deutschlandfunk.de , background , August 25, 2017, Thilo Kößler: Climate Change in Alaska - The Last Days of Shishmaref (September 17, 2017)
  25. ↑ badische-zeitung.de , Panorama , February 17, 2017: Rare saiga antelope threatened in existence (February 17, 2017)
  26. ↑ Fiji relocating villages - How climate change is eating away at home . In: Deutschlandfunk Kultur . ( deutschlandfunkkultur.de [accessed on November 3, 2017]).
  27. ^ ZB badische-zeitung.de , Abroad , November 11, 2008, Willi Germund: President seeks replacement country (February 17, 2017)
  28. ↑ tagesschau.de: Climate change: The plight of the Marshall Islands. Retrieved November 3, 2017 .
  29. ↑ cf. about taz.de , Stefan Rahmstorf : Security risk climate change - first drought, then war. In: zeozwei 2/2015
  30. ↑ Spiegel-Online, Did climate change trigger the war in Syria? , Axel Bojanowski, March 7, 2015