Displaced Populations, Unknown Legal Status
Millions of people worldwide are forced to leave their homelands as a result of rising sea levels, desertification, and worsening climate-related disasters. Human rights organizations and legal experts have started paying more attention to this humanitarian problem. Several small island nations in the Pacific and Indian Oceans face serious threats of total disappearance as a result of sea-level rise and other consequences of global warming.
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Climate Change and Forced Displacement
Climate change and the destruction of the environment pose huge threats to low-lying coastal areas due to rising sea levels and natural disasters. Vulnerable communities in small island nations, coastal areas, and arid regions are most affected because they lack the ability to adapt or relocate. Since the early 2000s, climate-related displacement has emerged as an escalating global concern. According to data from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), disaster-related events triggered more than 45.8 million internal displacement movements in 2024 alone. This figure includes displacement events so people may be displaced more than once. Events are triggered by weather hazards but also by non-climate related disasters such as earthquakes. The World Bank’s Groundswell Report (2021) estimates that under a pessimistic scenario, a total of 216 million people across six regions could become internal climate migrants by 2050 because of water scarcity, declining crop productivity, and increased sea level rise. However, the report emphasizes that immediate and concerted climate and development action could reduce this scale by up to 80 percent. In Bangladesh, for example, floods and salt-water intrusion into agricultural lands directly contribute to the displacement of local communities.
Invisible Populations, Broken Protections
The international legal framework for refugee protection has changed little since the creation of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1951. The convention states that refugees are people who flee persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or association with a particular social group. The framework was created in reaction to political persecution and genocide, not climate change.
People who lose their land and livelihood face a significant gap in international protection. International law currently does not recognize “climate refugees” as a legal status, creating a major governance challenge. This does not mean climate-displaced populations are entirely devoid of legal protection, as most remain inside their home countries as internally displaced persons (IDPs) with full citizenship rights, while cross-border migrants may sometimes access temporary protection or regional frameworks. However, a severe gap remains: there is no uniform international status or guaranteed cross-border protection for those displaced strictly by environmental causes. People who are forced from their homes due to severe environmental degradation lack a defined pathway to claim asylum abroad, leaving them suspended between temporary mobility and permanent displacement.
When climate change or climate-related disasters force people from their homes, individuals do not automatically lose their nationality, but they do face a dangerous lack of legal recognition as refugees. Without an established status under international refugee law, some of the displaced people may be forced to rely on irregular migration, making them highly vulnerable to human trafficking, exploitation by criminal organizations, and a lack of access to basic services. Legal scholars such as Professor Jane McAdam from the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law point out that this protection deficit severely threatens international stability by fueling resource competition and geopolitical strain in fragile regions.
In international forums, Small Island Developing States have been calling for urgent legal changes. In a landmark 2020 decision (Teitiota v. New Zealand), the UN Human Rights Committee affirmed that environmental degradation can threaten the right to life, establishing that states may violate human rights obligations if they deport individuals back to places where climate change poses an imminent hazard. However, the Committee ultimately ruled against Ioane Teitiota because the risk was not sufficiently immediate, illustrating the ongoing difficulty of securing cross-border protection under current legal standards.
Justice Across Borders, Responsibility Across Generations
Prominent advocates, including Kumi Naidoo, former Secretary General of Amnesty International, emphasize that the legal vacuum surrounding climate displacement constitutes a serious crisis of human rights and international accountability. Scholars and civil society leaders stress that addressing this challenge requires comprehensive action through both national adaptation strategies and legally binding international treaties.
In this context, various civil society organizations advocate the development of a formal legal status for “climate refugees” or “environmental refugees,” seeking international recognition to grant affected populations rights comparable to those traditionally reserved for victims of persecution.
Moreover, experts point out that establishing a dedicated framework for climate displacement is essential for treaty negotiations, mechanisms of reparative justice, and fair climate finance. It implies moving beyond voluntary humanitarian aid toward legally binding obligations. Historically high-emitting developed nations bear a primary responsibility to allocate significant financial resources to assist climate-displaced communities.
Ultimately, addressing climate displacement requires advancing Environmental Justice. Developing countries and indigenous communities, who have contributed the least to global emissions, continue to bear a disproportionate share of climate impacts. African nations and small island states face catastrophic consequences despite minimal historical contributions. This remains an issue of both environmental reality and historical justice. Without structural legal reform, climate displacement will continue to undermine world peace and human dignity in the years ahead.
Works Cited
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. Global Report on Internal Displacement 2025. IDMC, 2025, https://www.internal-displacement.org/. Accessed 31 Aug. 2026.
International Organization for Migration. “Environmental Migration Portal.” IOM, 2024, https://environmentalmigration.iom.int/. Accessed 16 Aug. 2026.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and Its 1967 Protocol. UNHCR, https://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html. Accessed 16 Aug. 2026.
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Historic UN Human Rights Case Opens Door to Climate Change Asylum Claims.” OHCHR, 20 Jan. 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2020/01/historic-un-human-rights-case-opens-door-climate-change-asylum-claims. Accessed 16 Aug. 2026.
World Bank. “Climate Change Could Force 216 Million People to Migrate Within Their Own Countries by 2050.” World Bank, 13 Sept. 2021, https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2021/09/13/climate-change-could-force-216-million-people-to-migrate-within-their-own-countries-by-2050-world-bank-report. Accessed 16 Aug. 2026.
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