This expert contribution to PRM and USAID is based on Climate Refugees report: “Climate Change, Forced Displacement, Peace and Security: Biden Administration Actions That Ensure Rights released in March 2021 in response to President Biden’s February 4 executive orders on Planning for the Impacts of Climate Change on Migration. And this 2020 joint NGO report addressing the adverse impacts of climate change in Central America countries due to the strategic policy and operational response needs of forced migration arising from Central America to the United States, where evidence suggests climate change impacts and climate variability have impacted agriculture and the livelihoods of millions of farmers.
Climate Change, Forced Displacement, Peace & Security: Biden Administration Actions that Ensure Rights
On February 4, President Biden issued an Executive Order on refugees, including planning for the impact of climate change on migration. The President asked for an inter-agency report within 180 days, wanting to better understand: the security implications of climate-related migration; options for protection and resettlement of individuals displaced directly or indirectly; mechanisms for identifying and referring such individuals; proposals for how findings should affect US foreign assistance; and opportunities to work collaboratively with states, international organizations, NGOs and others.
The lack of a global governance mechanism remains the main impediment to effective short-term and long-term solutions, but absent one is no longer an excuse for policy inaction. The 1951 Refugee Convention offers protection to those fleeing conflict who face persecution along grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion, when their states are unable or unwilling to protect them. With challenges attributing climate change as cause and legal gaps that do not address the not-so distinct line between voluntary and forced movements in the context of climate change, there is a need to better understand the complex and multi-causal drivers of forced migration, as well as its disproportionate effects in fragile settings.
Press release here
Serve Your People: A Roadmap for Transforming Relations between the United States & the Northern Countries of Central America
Austin Park via UNSPLASH
Under the leadership of the Latin America Working Group (LAWG), Climate Refugees contributed expertise to this joint-NGO report with LAWG, Kinds in Need of Defense (KIND), Oxfam America, Church World Service (CWS Global) and Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), which maps out the “ways the United States can restore and advance protections for migrants and refugees and use principled diplomacy to stand with civil society forces for change. It provides U.S. policy recommendations for protecting human rights, providing opportunities for youth at risk, addressing gender-based violence, tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting equitable development strategies, and helping countries address the impact of climate change.” (LAWG)