Research Handbook on Climate Change, Migration and the Law (Introduction)

This Handbook seeks to provide an overview of the myriad of ideas and debates that emerged in recent years on climate change, migration and the law. What is often reduced to the simple terms such as “climate migration” or “climate refugees” emerged as a rather complex theme. Climate change affects human mobility in multiple ways, often indirectly, and always within the context of particular societies and communities. It is not always possible to identify specific scenarios of climate migration and, a fortiori, to single out “climate migrants.” In turn, these conceptual intricacies make it more difficult to analyse how existing law applies to – and how new laws and policies could relate to – what should perhaps best be called the “climate-migration nexus.” As editors, we were committed to giving voice to different views, even if those could be conflicting, rather than pushing for a particular narrative of our taste. We thus leave it to the readers to weigh multiple arguments through further research. Thus, the chapters gathered in this Handbook are written by authors from different backgrounds and perspectives to reflect the multiple on-going discussions on the topic. These chapters develop diverse and sometimes conflicting understandings of, among others, the implications of climate change for human mobility, terminological choices, and views about desirable steps to be taken. This introduction provides a general background to the chapters that follow. A first section discusses some difficulties in conceptualizing the climate-migration nexus. A second section offers a broad overview of relevant legal developments. A third section examines the political and normative implications of discussions on the climate-migration nexus. A fourth section presents the outlines of this Handbook.