Should Climate Refugees Be Granted a Special Normative Status?

Abstract

Estimates suggest that by 2050, over one billion people could be displaced by climate change. The form and severity of displacement will vary, but the most severe displacement will be experienced by those who may be described as ‘climate refugees’. Their status presents a new and pressing challenge that the international community must face. This article has two objectives: section I is dedicated to determining who should be considered a ‘climate refugee’ among the climate-displaced; and section II justifies and explains why climate refugees should have a special normative status. The standard definition of ‘refugee’ comes from the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention (UNRC), but this definition does not recognise so-called ‘climate refugees’. In section I, I address this problem by proposing a new definition for climate refugees as those who: (1) are displaced by the effects of climate change; (2) have no state guaranteeing their basic interests; and (3) have had their place rendered permanently uninhabitable as a direct result of climate change. In section II, I justify the conceptual usefulness of this definition by arguing that this subset of the climate-displaced should be given a special normative status. I do this in four steps. In II.1, I show what is ‘special’ about climate refugees to warrant their special normative status: namely, that there is something of unique normative importance about permanently losing one’s place. In II.2, I show how this position means climate refugees ought to be granted a special normative status which includes group resettlement and a form of self-governance rights. In II.3, I suggest how this status can be granted so that it is not too costly for the rest of the global population, and in II.4 I respond to concerns that my position may involve moral arbitrariness.