Book Review - Climate Change and Displacement Reader

Climate Change and Displacement Reader

Written by: Scott Leckie, Ezekiel Simperingham and Jordan Bakker (eds),

Earthscan (Routledge), 2012,

ISBN 9780415691345, 512pp

Reviewed by: Chris Baker

Climate change continues to simmer as an issue for security analysts the world over. Of deep concern to many is the idea that hundreds of millions — according to some assessments — of climate change refugees may be on the move in coming decades due to climate disasters. This understandably creates a sense of angst amongst policymakers and defence planners who are already juggling domestic issues of irregular migration and refugees with the associated real or perceived security issues.

The Climate Change and Displacement Reader goes a long way to demystifying this highly complex and often controversial issue. It is an excellent source for theorists and practitioners alike, as it provides a comprehensive overview of the issues as they currently stand, introducing the reader to the leading research and discourse on climate change displacement. The structure of the book facilitates an efficient reading experience, with five separate sections covering different themes.

There is a strong legal and normative theme flowing throughout the book and sections two to five place human rights at the centre of the debate with sections four and five looking more specifically at the social (Section 5) and political (Section 4) aspects. Section five, ‘Community and NGO responses and proposed solutions’, is a micro analysis of the ways that local communities have adapted, or are planning to adapt to climate change. It includes a chapter on climate justice by the Global Humanitarian Forum (Chapter 49, pp. 478–87) that challenges us to ‘think more deeply about our conceptions of obligation and responsibility’ (p. 479) and therefore who should be responsible for the impact of carbon pollution on the world’s poor. Section four, ‘Affected countries’, takes a more political approach to human rights and climate displacement. It is divided into Asia and the Pacific, and the majority of chapters are governmental papers or those focused on political action and adaptation strategies. Of particular interest to Australian readers may be the Labor Policy Discussion paper by Anthony Albanese and Bob Sercombe whilst in opposition in 2006 (Chapter 30).

Anyone wishing to comprehend the complexities and controversies of climate change displacement must understand the legal minefield that acts as a barrier to those displaced by climate change seeking refuge. Sections two and three provide a solid introduction in these. Although journalists and politicians continue to refer to ‘climate refugees’, the academic and legal community is, for the most part, attempting to come to terms with the uncertain international legal status of those who are displaced by climate change. This has led to such notions as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Stateless Person, Environmentally Forced Migrant and the like. Section two, ‘International legal and institutional framework’, provides important literature on the subject from UNHCR, the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly among others. Section three, ‘Proposed new legal standards’, suggests some possible solutions to the problem including the initiation of a new international convention on Climate Change Displaced Persons (CCDPs).

Currently, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has the monopoly over the terminology of the conditions that lead to ‘genuine’ refugee status. The idea that a refugee is ‘one seeking refuge’ has led to terms such as ‘Environmental Refugee’ and ‘Climate Change Refugee’. The UNHCR maintains that ‘(t)hese terms have no basis in international refugee law’ due to the fact that ‘refugee’ is a legal term (p. 149), although there is an acknowledgement that refugee movements will be increasingly ‘provoked by armed conflict rooted in environmental factors’ (p. 147). The 1951 Refugee Convention provides a very specific set of guidelines that classifies a refugee as someone who is ‘outside the country of his nationality’ and has a ‘well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion’ (p. 174). Essentially, a person may be granted refugee status for strictly political reasons only. Given that there are already over ten million refugees of concern to the UNHCR, half of these in Asia, it is understandable and foreseeable that the UNHCR and the international community in general have strong reservations about allowing a whole new class of refugee to appear at the stroke of a pen — especially for something as technically vague as a ‘climate change refugee’.

It is the first section, ‘The reality of climate displacement’, of the Climate Change and Displacement Reader that is likely to offer the most value to policymakers and defence planners, however. This section provides an overview of the important theoretical discourse as well as the current environmental situation. Asia is highlighted as one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change disasters, particularly the Asian mega-deltas (p. 38) and a differentiation is made between sudden-onset disasters (such as storms and floods) with the accompanying short-lived displacement, and slow-onset disasters (such as sea-level rise) with the slow but presumably permanent displacement that results (p. 37). Children and the elderly, particularly those in developing countries, are identified as the most vulnerable to climate change displacement (p.b18). Poverty also plays a significant role — and therefore people are more likely to be internally displaced (within the borders of their own nation) given the high costs associated with international migration (p. 69). As to where climate-displaced persons might attempt to migrate to if they do choose to cross international boundaries, Oli Brown suggests that most people would ‘tend to seek refuge in places where they have existing cultural and ethnic ties’ (p. 79), for example, Australia and New Zealand would be a destination of choice for those in the South Pacific. He does not mention Australia’s longstanding cultural and familial ties with parts of South-East and East Asia.

In addition, Steve Lonergan’s chapter (Chapter 4) scrutinises some of the numerically very high predictions of expected ‘waves of refugees’ caused by climate change, challenging the ‘uncritical acceptance of a direct causal link between environmental degradation and population displacement’ (pp. 59–60). He does not suggest that there are no links, but cautions instead against fear-driven policy and military reactions to predictions such as Myer’s (1992) assessment that there will be upwards of 150 million environmental refugees. This is important to understand — particularly in relation to slow-onset disasters such as sea-level rise — as differentiating between the environmental causes and the economic, social and political contributing factors is difficult, if not impossible. Given the current political environment in Australia in which the government is seeking to make a case against asylum seekers on the grounds of their being ‘economic migrants’, this is a salient point.

The Climate Change and Displacement Reader is an important text for any who are seeking to understand the links between climate change and human migration. This policy-oriented text provides readers a solid theoretical and empirical foundation on the issue and information and evidence to make their own judgements on the human and legal dimensions. For security and defence analysts, this reviewer would suggest reading it in conjunction with Dupont and

Pearman’s Heating up the Planet (2006) and Palazzo’s The Future of War Debate in Australia (2012). There is little doubt that the issue of climate change and human migration will continue to grow in importance over coming decades for policymakers and defence analysts, whether they plan for it or not.