This special issue provides an overview of the relationship between climate change and forced migration for the purposes of refugee status determination under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees as well as other regional frameworks.
Resource Person: Dr. Elizabeth Ferris
Dr. Elizabeth Ferris is Research Professor and Director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM) at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and an adjunct professor in the Georgetown Law School. She has also served as Senior Advisor to the UN General Assembly’s Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York (2016) and as expert advisor to the UN’s High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement (2019-2021). She has worked on issues around climate migration since 2010, particularly focused on planned relocations – when a whole community needs to move as a result of environmental hazards and climate change. She is presently carrying out research on climate migration and remittances in Central America, a joint research project between ISIM and Mercy Corps.
Climate change and forced migration
Climate change is “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Article 1(2).” Climate change is responsible for increasing droughts, sea level rise, salination of fresh water sources, crop failures, increasing scarcity of habitable land, and extreme weather events, such as hurricanes. As a result, climate change curtails the enjoyment of several human rights, including but not limited to the right to life, to health, and to food, as established by the following landmark cases.
- In a 2020 decision, Ioane Teitiota v. New Zealand, the UN Human Rights Committee opened the door to apply the principle of non-refoulement in cases where climate-induced conditions may interfere with their right to life, possibly leading to successful asylum claims in the future. Accordingly, the Human Rights Committee held that “The obligation not to extradite, deport or otherwise transfer pursuant to article 6 of the [International] Covenant [on Civil and Political Rights], may be broader than the scope of the principle of non-refoulement under international refugee law, since it may also require the protection of aliens not entitled to refugee status (para 9.3).”
- In 2022, in the Torres Strait Islanders case, the UN Human Rights Committee held that Australia’s failure to mitigate the impact of climate change on indigenous populations constituted a violation of their right to enjoy culture and be free from arbitrary interference to their private life, as severe floods have destroyed ancestral lands and gravesites in the Torres Strait Islands.
According to the 2022 United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, more than 3 billion people live in countries that are highly vulnerable to climate change and a World Bank report estimates that up to 216 million people worldwide will migrate internally by 2050 due to climate change.
Climate change is considered one of the main drivers of human mobility. Yet, the link between climate change and forced displacement remains complex, and drawing causal links can be hard for several reasons, which are also outlined in a UNHCR policy note.
- Environmental degradation, which results from and causes climate change, affects many areas of human life, including agriculture and employment. But environmental degradation also results from human action such as deforestation and unsound agricultural practices. This complex interplay blurs the lines between economic migration and climate-induced displacement.
- The anthropogenic activities that are the main causes of climate change such as the excessive usage of fossil fuels, livestock farming, or deforestation, tend to take place in the Global North while the most devastating effects of climate change are felt in the Global South.
- Environmental disasters that result from and contribute to climate change can be slow or sudden onset. With slow onset disasters, such as erosion which over time reduces the soil quality and results in crop failures, it can be hard to determine that a particular driver of forced migration was a result of climate change.
- Climate change can contribute to and exacerbate existing conflicts or create new ones. When there is a mass-scale cross-border movement because of the conflict, climate change as a contributing factor is often overlooked.
- The vast majority of people who leave their habitual residence due to environmental reasons do not become cross-border migrants, but rather they are internally displaced.
- Many of those affected by the adverse impacts of climate change will likely not be able to move and may be at more risk than those who are displaced.
Are environmentally displaced individuals considered refugees?
While media and advocacy organisations prefer to employ the term “refugee” to refer to those displaced by climate and disaster-related events, they are yet to reach a consensus on the term (Ferris and Bergmann, 2017). In 1985, UN Environment Programme researcher Essam El-Hinnawi defined environmental refugees as “people who have been forced to leave their traditional habitat […] because of a marked environmental disruption that jeopardised their existence and/or seriously affected the quality of their life.” Former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata, in turn, stated in 1992 that “the term environmental refugee is a misnomer,” holding that the limits of the 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees could not be stretched to include environmental migrants and UNHCR continues to oppose the use of the term “climate refugee.”
Since then, however, the UNHCR has developed new guidance on how the agency can work with those displaced by disasters although they are not refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention. Former UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres stated in 2011 that environmental migrants were “not truly migrants, in the sense that they did not move voluntarily,” emphasising the forced nature of environmental migration. Similarly, in 2018, the UN Global Compact for Safe Orderly and Just Migration in 2018 referred to “climate change and extreme environmental disasters as an adverse driver or structural factor for forced migration.” In the face of this, some argued that a refugee definition in the 1951 Convention should be revisited to include this nascent group of displaced individuals or a separate legislation should enter into force (Fry, 2023). McAdam (2012) argues against separate legislation, holding that states would be unwilling to enter into further obligations given their current legal obligations towards refugees and the lack of durable solutions. Similarly, the Nansen Initiative on the Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate recommends against a new binding agreement and instead “supports an approach that focuses on the integration of effective practices by states and (sub-)regional organisations into their own normative frameworks in accordance with their specific situations and challenges.” Given governments’ increasing efforts to restrict the application of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the fear is that if the Convention was re-opened, rather than broadening its scope, even more restrictions would be included.
1951 UN Refugee Convention and climate migrants
Article 1A(2) of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, which is the key legal document that form the basis of refugee protection, defines a refugee as a person who “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.”
Neither the 1951 Convention nor its 1967 Additional Protocol explicitly acknowledges climate change or environmental hazards as a ground for persecution. Scott (2016) argues that the “deeply social nature of disasters, within which existing patterns of discrimination and marginalisation are exacerbated” render certain groups more vulnerable to climate change. As a result, their ensuing cross-border movement can (but does not always) fall under the refugee definition of the 1951 Convention. Supporting this, in 2022, the UN General Assembly recognised for the first time the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, possibly leading to more successful asylum claims. Accordingly, inadequate responses by the state to disasters and climate change could constitute a breach of rights enshrined under core human rights treaties (such as the International Covenant on Economic Social, and Cultural Rights), amounting to persecution under the 1951 Convention. Therefore, rather than rigidly applying the Convention grounds for persecution in refugee status determination, decision making bodies should assess the extent to which environmental disasters or climate change had curtailed the enjoyment of human rights.
In this light, in a 2020 policy note titled Legal considerations regarding claims for international protection made in the context of the adverse effects of climate change and disasters, UNHCR addresses the constituent elements of the refugee definition set forth in the 1951 Convention to show that, in some situations, environmental migrants can be recognised as refugees. such as when environmental defenders are persecuted for their actions or when assistance following disasters is discriminatory in nature.
- Climate change, environmental degradation, and disasters may curtail the enjoyment of human rights as they render individuals and peoples vulnerable. Furthermore, they interfere with states’ capacity and willingness to provide support to affected communities. The harm suffered, therefore, can amount to persecution under the threshold set in the 1951 Convention.
- As climate change and disasters often impact large groups of people. The fact that human rights violations affect a large group and the inability or unwillingness of the officials to mitigate harm in the sense of a collective issue may strengthen the evidence for persecution or fear of persecution.
- The decision-making bodies should look at the cases holistically, meaning that the persecution or fear of persecution for individuals should be assessed within its geographical temporal and political context. The positive developments, such as the ability of officials to reduce disaster risk, the efforts to alleviate or reverse the adverse of climate change, etc., should also be factored into the decision.
- Climate change and environmental disasters may disproportionately affect those already vulnerable and marginalised. In many countries, women, the elderly, people with disabilities, minority groups, indigenous populations, rural communities, etc. remain disproportionately at risk. Therefore, a causal link can be drawn between persecution or fear of persecution and race, religion, nationality, or membership of a particular social group.
- Members of the media, members of civil society organisations, ecosystem defenders, etc. who focus on environmental matters, can be targeted by their governments or other groups. Such individuals may be recognised refugees who were persecuted for their political opinion.
Climate displacement under other legal frameworks
The OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa is a regional convention governing refugee protection. Under the OAU Convention a refugee “every person who, owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his country of origin or nationality, is compelled to leave his place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his country of origin or nationality (Article 1.1).”
While the concept of “events seriously disturbing public order” is not defined or limited in the OAU Convention, Adeola (2022) argues that it reflects the humanitarian approach of the convention and “functions as a wide-ranging safety net for potential refugee movements that may not fall strictly within the conventional grounds.” In 2019, the African Union Council convened a Roundtable on Addressing Root Causes and Achieving Durable Solutions in Africa and affirmed natural disasters, drought, and climate change as drivers of forced migration.
The African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, also known as the Kampala Convention, holds that “States Parties shall take measures to protect and assist persons who have been internally displaced due to natural or human made disasters, including climate change (Article 5.4).” The Kampala Convention applies to Internally displaced persons (IDPs) yet it is significant as it recognises climate change as a driver of forced migration at a regional level. Furthermore, the protections and procedural guarantees afforded to IDPs under Kampala Convention are similar to those in refugee protection (Article 9).
The 1984 Cartagena Declaration is not a legally binding instrument yet countries in Latin America have been using its refugee definition. Similar to the OUA Convention, the Cartage Declaration expands on the criteria in the 1951 Convention to include “persons who flee their countries because their lives, safety or freedom have been threatened by generalised violence, foreign aggression, internal conflicts, massive violation of human rights or other circumstances which have seriously disturbed public order.” Accordingly, the broader definition and the circumstances can be an opportunity for environmentally displaced individuals to access protection.
The Protocol on Free Movement of Persons in the IGAD Region aims to facilitate the free movement of persons and mobility in the Intergovernmental Agency for Development (IGAD) region (which comprises Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda) “in order to enhance regional economic integration, stability, and development.”
The protocol recognizes “the positive contribution that free movement of persons can have in mitigating the impact of conflict, poverty, unemployment and underemployment, drought and disasters, as well as the adverse effects of climate change and environmental degradation as important drivers of displacement and migration in the IGAD region.” Accordingly, the protocol gives the nationals of a member state the right to enter, stay in, and exit (art. 5) and the right to work in other member states (art. 9). IGAD urges all member states to sign and ratify the protocol, and amend their national laws accordingly so that these provisions can allow for a more robust response to climate-related disasters in the region.
The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement are developed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and include 30 standards that outline the protections available to internally displaced people (IDPs). With respect to those displaced internally, the Guiding Principles explicitly include those fleeing natural or human-caused disasters (Principle 6-7).
Useful Resources
Climate Change Litigation Databases provide decisions, complaints, and other case documents.
Daniel Billy and others v Australia (Torres Strait Islanders Petition), CCPR/C/135/D/3624/2019 United Nations Human Rights Committee (2022)
Ioane Teitiota v. New Zealand, CCPR/C/127/D/2728/2016, UN Human Rights Committee (2020)
The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment: draft resolution, United Nations (2022)
Climate Migration in the International and Domestic Regulation of Migration, (2023), Alycia Millar
How Recognition and Implementation of the Right to a Healthy Environment Can Advance the Human Rights of Migrants, (2023), Monica Iyer
The Refugee Burden of Proof: Legal Gaps and Future Considerations For Climate Migrants, (2023), Aedan Raleigh
Where Are All the Climate Migrants? Explaining Immobility amid Environmental Change, (2023), Caroline Zickgraf
Climate change induced human displacement in Bangladesh: Implications on the livelihood of displaced riverine island dwellers and their adaptation strategies, (2022), Babul Hossain, Guoqing Shi, Chen Ajiang, Md. Nazirul Islam Sarker, Md. Salman Sohel, Zhonggen Sun and Qi Yang
Climate-induced Migrations in Mesoamerica with a gender perspective, (2022), Ursula Oswald Spring
Protecting ‘Climate Refugees’ Under the OAU 1969 Refugee Convention, (2022), Adeomat Adeola
Refugee Policy Amidst Global Shocks: Encampment, Resettlement Barriers and the Search for ‘Durable Solutions’, (2022), Johanne Mhlanga and Samuel J. Spiegel
Climate-induced Migration & Free Movement Agreements, (2020), Ama Francis
Reimagining the Climate Migration Paradigm, (2020), Eliza Pan
Climate change and the Syrian civil war revisited, (2017), Jan Selby, Omar S. Dahi, Christiane Frohlich, and Mike Hulme
Exiled by Emissions—Climate Change Related Displacement and Migration in International Law, (2017), Rina Kuusipalo
Soft law, migration and climate change governance, (2017), Elizabeth Ferris and Jonas Bergmann
Vulnerability and Climate Change Induced Human Displacement, (2017), Shweta Jayawardhan
Finding Agency in Adversity: Applying the Refugee Convention in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change, (2016), Matthew Scott
Syria’s Climate Refugees, (2016), John Wendle
Protecting People Displaced by Weather-Related Disasters and Climate Change: Experience from the Field, (2014), Alice Thomas
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Climate Change, (2013), Ariranga G. Pillay
Climate Change and Human Rights, (2013), Christian Roschmann
Conceptualizing Climate Change Related Movement, (2012), Jane McAdam
Right to Life with Dignity for ClimateDisplaced Persons: Proposing a Legal Standard Based on International Human Rights Norms & Local and Indigenous Peoples’ Perspectives (2025), International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination (ICAAD). This policy brief on climate-displaced persons seeks to propose a legal standard that could establish a threshold for courts/ tribunals to articulate when the right to life with dignity has been violated. It also suggests a methodology for using rigorous scientific modelling to help demonstrate that returning a climate-displaced person to their country of origin would violate their right to life with dignity.
Children displaced in a changing climate: Preparing for a future already underway (2023), UNICEF
Connecting Climate Justice & Migrant Justice: A Guide to Countering Dangerous Narratives (2023), Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants et al.
Displaced by a changing climate (2023), Caritas International.
Neighbours and Navigators, Preparing for Climate Mobility from Tuvalu and Kiribati to Aotearoa (2023), University of Auckland
Providing legal options to protect the human rights of persons displaced across international borders due to climate change: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, A/HRC/53/34
(2023) Ian Fry
Thinking about tomorrow, acting today: The future of climate mobility (2023), IOM
Climate mobility in Khartoum Process countries: an exploration of interventions (2022), The Mixed Migration Center
Guiding Principles for Children on the Move in the Context of Climate Change (2022), UNICEF
Groundswell Part 2: Acting on Internal Climate Migration (2021), Clement, Viviane; Rigaud, Kanta Kumari; de Sherbinin, Alex; Jones, Bryan; Adamo, Susana; Schewe, Jacob; Sadiq, Nian; Shabahat, Elham.
Summary Conclusions: Roundtable on Addressing Root Causes of Forced Displacement and Achieving Durable Solutions in Africa (2019), The African Union Convention
United Nations Global Compact For Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (2018)
Summary of the panel discussion on human rights, climate change, migrants and persons displaced across international borders (2017), Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Agenda for the Protection of Cross Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change (2015), The Nansen Initiative
Environmental Refugees (1985), Essam El-Hinnawi, UNEP
Australia violated Torres Strait islanders’ rights to enjoy culture and family life, UN Committee finds, (2022), OHCHR
The Terrible Plight of Internally Displaced Persons in Central Africa, Adopting an ECCAS Protocol to Better Protect IDPs in the Area, (2022), Cristiano d’Orsi
Climate-forced indigenous migration: Humanizing the impact of climate change, (2021), Indigenous Climate Hub
Climate Change as a Trigger of Non-Refoulement Obligations under International Human Rights Law, (2020), Jefferi Hamzah Sendut
Historic UN human rights case opens door to climate change asylum claims, (2020), OHCHR
New Zealand’s “Climate refugee” visas: Lessons for the rest of the world, Center for Global Development | Ideas to Action, (2020), Helen Dempster and Kayly Ober and Busch, J.
Escaping climate change: Who are the “environmental migrants” in international law?, (2016), United Nations
Defining climate migrants – beyond semantics, IOM Blog
How can we protect “climate refugees”?, Baker Institute
Human rights, climate change and migration, OHCHR
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Last updated October 2025
