People displaced by the effects of climate change in Colombia could soon receive legal recognition under a landmark bill that passed the first stage in Congress. The bill has already won approval in the first of four debates that are required before it can become law.
The bill proposes the Colombian government “recognize the existence of forced internal displacement due to causes associated with climate change and environmental degradation.” It’s encouraging that the proposed law encompasses a broad definition of climate displacement, from families fleeing sudden events such as hurricanes to slow onset events like drought and environmental degradation, situations that are increasingly forcing farmers to move due to crop failure and food insecurity.
The bill aims to give individuals internally displaced by the effects of climate change priority access to housing, health services and education. The bill also aims to create a national register of climate-displaced people. Such a tool would be critical in identifying and guaranteeing protection for those displaced by the effects of climate change.
If passed, in addition to providing legal recognition and the development of public policy to meet government demands of displacement driven by climate change, the bill also outlines the principal causes of displacement, including families living in geographically vulnerable regions.
Not so long ago, Colombia had the highest number of internally displaced persons as a result of conflict and violence. Today, the Norwegian Refugee Council estimates nearly 800,000 Colombians are dependent on humanitarian services due to climate change-induced impacts. According to UNHCR, the bill could be an important step forward in properly identifying and guaranteeing protection to people displaced by climate change contexts.
“The people most exposed to these climate change impacts and emergencies are the poorest and most vulnerable,” said congressman Duvalier Sánchez of the Green Alliance Party. Sánchez, one of the sponsors of the bill, added that “the majority of displacement during the previous century was due to war and conflict, but most of the displacement this century will be because of the climate emergency.”
The bill apparently enjoys widespread political support and Sánchez is optimistic of its passing, which will also align with the Colombian government’s commitment to tackle climate change and its impacts. Should it be successful, the law would be the first of its kind in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region where the World Bank’s estimates there could be as many as 17 million internal climate migrants by 2050, representing 2.6 percent of the region’s total population.
While the new law only addresses internal climate displacement, it could have significant regional implications as countries continue to step up efforts to address both internal and cross-border movement due to the effects of climate change.
Colombian lawmaker Julia Miranda, a co-sponsor of the bill, hopes this development encourages other countries in the region to follow suit, as well as facilitate regional cooperation on the issue. "There will come a time, not too far off in the future, when countries will have to act in a coordinated way. People will cross from one country into another and we'll have to address this together,” she said.
The 1951 Refugee Convention does not strictly afford asylum protections to persons displaced across borders by climate change. Ian Fry, the first UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights and Climate Change who was appointed only a year ago, recently released a report on providing legal protections to persons displaced across borders by climate change. In it, Fry proposed establishing a new protocol under the existing Refugee Convention to give protection to persons displaced across borders by climate change.
According to the latest data published by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), disaster displacement figures were the highest in more than a decade in Colombia, as floods caused by heavy rains led to almost all of the 281,000 internal movements recorded. IDMC estimates that 41,000 people were living in displacement as a result of disasters in Colombia at the end of the year, of whom 39,000 had fled floods and storms.
Globally, 32.6 million internal displacements were recorded in 2022, compared to 23.7 million in 2021. This is the highest figure recorded in a decade, as disaster displacements in 2022 were 41% higher than the annual average of the past ten years. The latest data published by IDMC sheds light on the broader importance of addressing internal climate displacement, as countries in the Global North tighten borders to migrants, asylum-seekers and climate displaced individuals, ignoring the protection needs of those who are unable to move within borders.
Colombia is making significant strides toward addressing displacement, and it remains to be seen what steps other countries may take to address this issue, both internally as well as through regional cooperation. Argentina has already taken up steps to provide three-year humanitarian visas to climate displaced persons from Central America, Mexico and and the Caribbean. Globally, a number of efforts are in process, such as East Africa’s Protocol on Free Movement, which while not yet in force, was created to address issues of drought and desertification. Temporary protection mechanisms also exist in many countries, including in the United States, however many of these global efforts are ad hoc and haphazard.