Typically, issues affecting refugees displaced by political or religious persecution have been regulated under human rights law, while issues related to climate change have been regulated under international environmental law. Yet while the issues facing climate refugees align more closely with human rights law, Abate says governments are regulating the problem from an international environmental law perspective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because there is no legal precedent for how to handle populations displaced by climate change, climate refugees across the globe are now stuck in a void between international environmental laws and international human rights laws, with both sides pointing to the other to take responsibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s happening right here in the U.S., says Abate, pointing to a\nlawsuit led by the indigenous Alaskan community of Kivalina against 24 of the\nlargest fossil fuel companies in the world as a prime example. The 400 native\nAlaskans who have called the isolated village of Kivalina home for generations\nclaimed that the global collective emissions created by those companies\ncontributed to a significant portion of the sea level rise that is causing\ntheir community to vanish into the ocean. They argued that the fossil fuel\ncompanies should be responsible for paying the $400 million it would cost to\nrelocate the community 10 miles inland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUltimately, they lost this case in court, but it gives you a sense that there are no existing laws to protect them,\u201d says Abate. \u201cEven when creative efforts through the court systems are used to seek recovery, [the residents of] this native village in Alaska [are] still to this day on their own to figure out how they will move on when this strip of land goes underwater.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nnumber of climate refugees is expected to grow in the coming decades: Some\nestimates put the number at 200 million by 2050. When you factor in climate\nchange\u2019s threat multiplier effect\u2014that is, its ability to exacerbate existing\nthreats in already unstable regions of the world (the Middle East, for\nexample)\u2014with the lack of a reliable go-to legal framework for dealing with\nclimate refugees, a continued lack of action could soon cause \u201cchaos\u201d globally,\nAbate warns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This\ninertia by world leaders is already drawing the ire of vulnerable nations and\npopulations around the world. Enele Sopoaga, the former prime minister of the\nSouth Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu, famously said climate change is a \u201cslow\nand insidious form of terrorism against us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThose\nwho are vulnerable in the South Pacific, watching what they call home … about\nto go under water in a period of decades, believe [that] developed countries\nhave a moral, political, and legal responsibility to regulate climate change,\nto buy them more time in the South Pacific, to stay where they are and not be\nrobbed of their culture\u2014they see that failure to act as a form of terrorism,\u201d says\nAbate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abate\nsays a necessary shift is beginning to occur: Cases are being brought to the\ncourts on the basis of morality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One such example is Juliana v. United States, a pending case in federal court in which 21 teenagers from across the U.S. are suing the federal government for the \u201cright to a stable climate.\u201d Because teenagers, children, and the unborn cannot vote, the plaintiffs argue there is a moral imperative for the government to regulate climate change in order to protect them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similar to the argument used in the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage, the plaintiffs are not seeking an amendment to the constitution, but rather that the Due Process Clause recognize the right to a stable environment, so that vulnerable populations can enjoy the other rights included in the constitution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is clearly nothing in our constitution about same-sex marriage, but the argument is that marriage is so fundamental to the enjoyment of so many other constitutionally protected rights, it is the foundation from which we as citizens live our lives,\u201d says Abate. \u201cEssentially the same argument is being made with climate in that a right to a stable climate is so fundamental … that it has to be something that our Due Process Clause recognizes. What\u2019s the point to having the right to free speech and freedom of religion if we\u2019re all dead because of an unstable climate?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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