The environment and refugees: theoretical and policy issues.

"The concept of ¿environmental refugee' is not included in the definition of refugee as established by the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, which are the most widely used instruments providing the basis for granting asylum to persons in need of protection. Yet, it is increasingly being recognized that environmental factors interact with political, economic, social and biopsychological factors to generate mass movements of people which may require a humanitarian response by the international community. In order to improve our understanding of the role that environmental factors play in triggering migration, it is necessary to recognize the multivariate nature of the phenomenon under consideration, where the difference between internal and international migration is often accidental and there is a continuum between proactive and reactive migration."