Critical perspective on the identification of ‘environmental refugees’ as a category of human rights concern

Abstract

Much has been written over the last few years on migration induced by environmental or climate factors, particularly with an emphasis on normative prospects. This chapter attempts to form what Chimni called a 'critique of critique', considering not only the insufficiencies of existing governance, but also the flaws and weaknesses of reform proposals. A 'refugee' can be broadly defined as 'someone in flight, who seeks to escape conditions of personal circumstances found to be intolerable'. In this chapter, the author articulated a critical perspective on the normative discourse on 'environmental refugees' around three main ideas. First, environmental migration cannot be governed by analogy with refugees. Second, there is no ethical justification for the protection of environmental migrants as such: solidarity-based arguments rather argue for the protection of migrants, whereas responsibility-based arguments call for a form of 'climate justice' for all those affected by climate change.