The need for migration is intensifying due to climate change, Indian Institute technology (IIT) Madras researchers have developed a standard framework that highlights that prevailing international law is barely sufficient to protect an entire section of forcibly displaced people. The framework addresses cross-border migration due to climate change.
Researchers have suggested that all asylum seekers should be accommodated in host countries under the principle of ‘non-retribution’. This will ensure that refugees are not forced to return to their home countries to face losses. Asylum seekers from vulnerable areas should be absorbed in host countries in proportion to their greenhouse gas emissions. The IIT Madras researchers said that given the anticipated global environmental changes and the severity of the associated damages, it is important to take prompt and appropriate action.
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Question ‘Did this person migrate because of climate change?’ However, that can never be answered completely, the institute said. The study states that the Center for Internal Displacement Monitoring reports that 40.5 million people were newly displaced in 2020 and 30 million of these people were forcibly displaced due to weather-related disasters.
Professor Sudhir C Rajan, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras and Dr Sujatha Byarawan, an independent scholar published the research paper titled ‘Cross-border migration on a hot planet: A policy framework’. The paper was published in the peer-reviewed journal WIRES Climate Change.
“In recent years, increasing risks of environmental hazards, including climate change, have fueled migration. One such case is the slums of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, where residents are on the front lines of the climate crisis. Monsoon floods and People living along the coast are migrating to the capital of Bangladesh due to cyclones triggered by rising sea levels. For these residents, deteriorating climate change is not a distant threat. It is a grim reality,” said Prof. Sudhir Chella Rajan, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras said.
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“Climate scientists have known for more than a decade that climate change will result in millions, if not more, forcibly displaced millions, if not more, from some of the poorest countries. If their countries are no longer viable homes through no fault of their own, the international community have a moral responsibility to provide shelter,” Prof Rajan said.
Elaborating on the need for such research, co-author of this research, Dr Sujatha Byarawan, an independent scholar, said, “There is an urgent need to ensure that people from countries that have used very few greenhouse gases have emitted, they are not left to fend for themselves. Climate exiles or migrants have no legal status. These are issues that must be addressed in the Climate Dialogue Track of Loss and Damage under Non-Economic Damage.”
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