The Protection of Environmentally Displaced Persons: <I>Quo Vadis</I>?

Abstract

There have been a number of regional efforts which have attempted to look at the impact of environmental change and displacement. They highlight in one way or another the need to raise awareness of the impacts of environmental change, the need to prevent local populations from being forcibly displaced to preserve their territorial and cultural integrity and existence, as well as to develop strategic frameworks to protect people affected by environmental events within and across the borders once displacement takes place. Existing regional arrangements need to be closely analysed and can be the starting point to accommodate the needs of those displaced across international borders due to environmental changing conditions. Existing regional protection frameworks - such as the one developed by the European Union - may help us to revisit and reorient the international protection regime. This is because the European Union legal protection framework provides pragmatic solutions both to prevent and ensure the protection of cross border environmentally displaced people. This brief reflection aims at clarifying that in order to protect those displaced across international borders due to environmental factors, states need to take an holistic approach to protection and rethink protection as a dynamic guiding concept of both a priori (proactive) and a posteriori (reactive) protection measures.