A research talk presented at the #ecmn23 conference by Lukmon Akintola (Migration for Youth and Children Platform) & Olivia Karp (Balsillie School of International Affairs)
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Abstract
Climate Change is significantly driving some of the worst humanitarian crises in human history. From food shortages to water scarcity, from violent conflicts to disease outbreak and displacement. Climate crises are wreaking havoc in different parts of the world, particularly the Pacific Islands. Slow and rapid onset extreme weather events are forcibly displacing people from their homes, both internally and externally, while also increasingly disrupting human mobility patterns in the Pacific Island countries and territories. Despite contributing less than 1% of the global carbon emission, the Pacific Island countries are the hardest hit by climate events. This is evident in Nauru and Kiribati Islands, where nearly 74% and 94% of households in these respective countries are forced to move due to climate-induced disasters, such as sea level rise and cyclones. Environmental conditions, such as droughts and flooding events, have also triggered 98% of household movement in Tuvalu. Also, there are significant records of cross-border movement into neighboring countries, such as New Zealand and Australia. Despite all these ordeals and the uncertainties clouding the future of Pacific Island nations, the contemporary global migration regime has been complacent to this growing reality of climate-induced mobility. Particularly, there has been a deafening silence towards redefining the place of climate migrants in global migration laws and protocols, including institutionalising global legal instruments to address this growing concern. In this light, this paper presents a critical assessment of the current global migration governance, specifically regarding its gesture towards climate-induced migration in the Pacific Islands. This paper further evaluates the 1951 Refugee Convention and makes a case for the urgent need to revise the global migration instrument to reflect the current realities of climate-induced mobility. It also explores the realities of climate change in Pacific Islands and how it is disrupting human mobility patterns. Finally, this paper presents a frame of reference for the current global migration regime to drive sustainable and institutionalized responses to climate-induced mobility in the Pacific Island countries.