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Date of Graduation
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Department of Justice Studies
Daniel J. Beers
Galen B. Murton
One of the fastest growing populations of displaced people are those forced to migrate because of climate change, but under current international legal agreements they receive no protections or support. In response to the lack of security and stability provided to climate displaced populations and host countries, supplementary agreements have been proposed at the international level to address the gaps in existing policy. The purpose of this analysis is to identify policy agreements intended to support environmental migrants during times of displacement, evaluate the policies’ effectiveness, and determine what issues they address regarding climate induced displacement. All of the policies are evaluated on their ability to provide individual protections to refugees and develop support systems for host countries that assist in burden sharing while also holding signatories accountable for their actions through credible commitments. Policies examined in this paper include the Nansen Initiative, the Global Compact for Migration, and the Cartagena Declaration. The analysis finds that there is no clear policy that provides both strong protections and support systems. Rather a combination of the agreements is necessary to develop an international migration system equipped to manage climate induced displacement. The conclusion also argues the need for humanity to find an effective way to adapt to the effects of climate change to survive.
Lawing, Meredith, "Addressing Climate Induced Displacement: An Analysis of Protection Policies for Environmental Migrants" (2021). Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current. 126.