Responses to Climate Refugees
International Response
With the climate changing and affecting many third world country citizens, international countries are afraid of international security threats because of limited food, human rights, and clean drinking water in many third world countriesThe wall in Hungary builds a 13-feet high fence in 2015, which runs about 109 miles on the border near Serbia to prevent illegal immigration. The massive wall was set as a European law. However, the wall did not stop people from the illegal border crossing. There was still "70,000 migrants so far this year, compared with 43,000 in the whole of last year." India also built a wall in the 80’s to prevent Bangladesh citizens from crossing their border. The wall is 8-feet high, made out of wires, and runs 2,500 miles along the frontier. The wired wall is known as the Great Wall of India or the Wall of Death because 80,000 officers will shoot without caution at anyone who tries to border cross illegally.
Climate refugees are negatively viewed by others, and again, they are facing limited help, which will cause them to migrate to other countries illegally. To reduce international security threats and illegal border crossing, the United Nations is in the process of creating adaptation programs to help victims who are affected by climate change. The programs are to help with relocation and to help communities cope with the influx of refugees. Germany, Australia, USA, and Canada are some of the developed countries who are currently contributing help to developing countries and climate refugees. Other organizations. Such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), UN High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR), UN Development Programme (UNDP), and World Bank are also helping.
The UNFCCC are contributing help by promoting prevention to reduce climate change. UNHCR protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide while UNDP creates policies to alleviate poverty and inequalities. The World Bank continues to end world problems and promote shared prosperity.
As of 2015, Germany has an influx of 800,000 climate refugees, and they are expecting an increase in 2016. With such an increase amount of people, Germany has come up with a strategy to build faster and easier homes for their new residents. The photo on the top are container homes that were built in 2013, and about 245,000 more were built in 2015. The container can fit up to two individuals. It comes included with a room, a small stove, sink, and freezer. Germany has predicted that they will need to build about 350,000 container homes each year because of the increased climate refugees who are continuously coming in.
Domestic Response
Kiribati, Maldives, and Bangladesh are a few of the developing countries who are affected by climate change. A father and a lawyer name Kidd from Kiribati had made an appeal and currently fighting for justice. He is asking New Zealand to justify his wife and three children to continue living in New Zealand. The difficulty is that there is not a final and accurate definition for "Climate Refugees". Kidd, his family, and many others who are negatively impacted by climate change are categorized as a regular refugee; as someone who is running away from persecution. This definition of a refugee does not justify the real meaning behind Kidd's and many other's situation. Kidd’s appeal was made out as "Climate change is an indirect form of persecution due to carbon emissions of industrialized countries."¹ The appeal was made to the New Zealand High Court. If Kidd were to lose, his family will be deported back to their home country, the place that caused them to move into New Zealand in the first place. If international law were to expand and redefine the definition of a refugee, climate refugees may be able to legally migrate to developing countries for further help. Soon enough; there will be more climate change refugees compared to war refugees."But, critics say that money can't fix the irreparable damage already caused by carbon emissions, for example fresh water sources polluted by sea water, or the destruction of arable land for food sources. Land that people can no longer live on has no value: instead, migration is necessary."
In Maldives, the president seeks to buy new land for his country. His vision for the new land is to provide better shelter for his people who are burdened by the climate changes instead of living in tents. Maldives' main income comes from annual tourist, due to climate change; there are limited tourist activities and it is affecting their income. For instance, climate change caused sea level to rise 2.4 meters above sea level and this is not pleasant for tourists.
The new land was determined to be located in either Sri Lanka or India because they have similar culture, cuisine and climates like Maldives, which will be more comfortable for Maldives’ citizens. Nevertheless, if the plan does not work out, Maldives can also look into Australia as another option for the land because Australia have large amount of unoccupied land.
The government in Bangladesh is asking developed countries to help take in millions of Bangladeshi citizens who are affected by climate change. Bangladeshi citizens has been relocating to Dhaka, a bigger city up north because of sea level rises.
In 2010, Bangladesh reported that with every one meter of sea level rise, 18% of Bangladesh's land would be flooded. With the floods, about 30 million people will lose their home and need to relocate elsewhere.
1. D.W., “On appeal: The ‘Climate Refugee’ Issue. Human Rights.
