The International Protection of Climate Migrants: Is Chile Up to the Challenge?

Monte Patria’s population in Chile’s Limarí Province, with its primarily agricultural economy, is feeling the impacts of climate change. The area’s semi-arid conditions are further intensified by rainfall variations, extreme temperatures and glacial melt. Government water policies are further straining shortages from droughts and other restrictive policies such as privatization.  Facing mounting hardships, residents have been driven to migrate to other parts of the country. Chile’s decisions to bow out of the UN Global Compact for Migration and the regional 2018 Escazú Agreement, on the basis of national sovereignty, have left it weakened to respond to the growing needs of migrants. This author thinks it’s in contravention to Chile’s own interests since its economy is largely dependent on natural resources utilized in agriculture, forestry and mining and apparently meets 7 of the 9 conditions of climate change vulnerability established by the UN. Furthermore, according to Chile’s National Institute of Human Rights, there are currently 117 socio-environmental conflicts - 82% in indigenous territories. Chile lacks a domestic policy framework as well as institutions to deal with the ramifications of climate impacts, including population displacement, migration and disaster response. (OpenGlobalRights) 

Analysis

According to Greenpeace, no one in Chile is unaffected by climate change. The Laguna de Acule, a lake impacted by a seven-year drought in the central and southern areas of the country, is a dependent water source for farmers and a lakeside retreat for many of Santiago’s wealthy residents. With the onset of the drought, the lake began to recede, and took with business and economic gains and real estate profits. A local expert attributes most of the blame to climate change, even if aquifers were disturbed by the country’s 2010 earthquake. With glacial melts, temperature increases of more than 2 degrees Celsius in some parts and resource conflicts on the rise, many see climate change as the country’s greatest external threat. Even if climate change attribution is not certain, its contribution seems likely. Meanwhile, Chile hosts about 10% of the global 4.5 million Venezuelan refugees and asylum-seekers.