S1, E2 The human face of the climate crisis: forced migration and protection challenges

The UNHCR estimates that 90% of refugees are produced in countries that are the most vulnerable and the least prepared to adapt to the repercussions of climate change. In this episode, MSc student in Health and International Development Aimée Wolff interviews Andrew Harper, special Advisor on Climate Action to the UN Refugee Agency, who illuminates the increasing complexity behind the drivers of migration since the creation of the 1951 Refugee Convention and the implications of climate change on international protection.

The nature of forced migration and the drivers of migration have changed drastically since the end of World War Two. Today, climate change is considered the ‘biggest issue on the forced displacement agenda’, yet its consequences are felt disproportionally across the world. Since 2020, fragile states have been impacted by the so-called Triple C—Climate Change, Conflict and COVID-19—whereby each acts as a threat multiplier.

Despite more people being displaced because of disasters relative to conflict, there is no explicit mention of ‘climate refugees’ in the 1951 Refugee Convention. Andrew Harper addresses highly debated questions of whether the UNHCR’s mandate and the legal definition of who constitutes a refugee should be expanded by referring to developments in international protection. In particular, he highlights the applicability of international refugee law through the UNHCR’s legal considerations on climate- and disaster-induced cross-border displacement, and touches upon the role of regional legal instruments governing the protection of refugees, such as the Kampala Convention and the Cartagena Declaration.

What remains clear is the international obligation to provide protection to those who had to flee their homes at no fault of their own. Doing so in the context of climate change and human mobility requires humanitarian agencies to shift their workings from a reactive to a proactive approach, bearing in mind that the most vulnerable are those who are unable to flee.