Climate refugees
From their recognition to the invocation of the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30854/anf.v32.n59.2025.1140Keywords:
Climate refugees, Principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, Climate change, Refugees, Human mobilityAbstract
This paper presents some reflections of applying the principle of common but differentiated responsibility to address the climate refugee crisis. Objective: the objective is to establish discussion guidelines for developed nations, the primary contributors to climate change, and the country’s most susceptible to climate variations or rising sea levels, regarding the invocation of the principle of common but differentiated responsibility. Methodology: the methodology employed a documentary analysis of information from specialized databases. The author constructed a three-level citation network – in-degree, out-degree, and betweenness – on topics related to 'climate refugees' or 'environmental responsibility,' among others. Results: The findings reveal that understanding the humanitarian issues of environmental refugees and adopting an approach grounded in the principle of common but differentiated responsibility enables the proposal of a reflective and purposeful scenario for invoking the principle. This premise rests on the privileged position developed countries currently hold due to their economic expansion and the environmental degradation caused by their industries. Conclusion: the conclusion asserts that the climate refugee crisis justifies the invocation of the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, given the international community's lack of commitment to extending refugee status to this vulnerable population.
Downloads
References
Andrew, N., Allison, E., Brewer, T., Connell, J., Eriksson, H., Eurich, J., ... & Tutuo, J. (2022). Continuity and Change in the Contemporary Pacific Food System. Global Food Security, 32, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2021.100608
Archer, D., & Rahmstorf, S. (2010). The Climate Crisis: An Introductory Guide to Climate Change. Cambridge University Press.
Askland, H., Shannon, B., Chiong, R., Lockart, N., Maguire, A., Rich, J., & Groizard, J. (2022). Beyond Migration: A Critical Review of Climate Change Induced Displacement. Environmental Sociology, 8(3), 267-278.
https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2022.2042888
Baldwin, A., Fröhlich, C., & Rothe, D. (2019). From Climate Migration to Anthropocene Mobilities: Shifting the Debate. Mobilities, 14(3), 289-297. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2019.1620510
Balesh, R. (2015). Submerging Islands: Tuvalu and Kiribati as Case Studies Illustrating the Need for a Climate Refugee Treaty. Earth Jurisprudence and Environmental Justice Journal, 5, 78-112. https://lawpublications.barry.edu/
cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1042&context=ejejj
Banister, D. (2011). Cities, Mobility and Climate Change. Journal of Transport Geography, 19(6), 1538-1546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2011.03.009
Berchin, I., Valduga, I., Garcia, J., & de Andrade, J. (2017). Climate Change and Forced Migrations: An Effort Towards Recognizing Climate Refugees. Geoforum, 84, 147-150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.06.022
Berkey, B. (2017). Benefiting from Unjust Acts and Benefiting from Injustice. En: L. H. Meyer & P. Sanklecha (Eds.). Climate Justice and Historical Emissions (pp. 123-140). Cambridge University Press.
Biermann, F., & Boas, I. (2008). Protecting Climate Refugees: The Case for a Global Protocol. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 50(6), 8-17. https://doi.org/10.3200/ENVT.50.6.8-17
Biermann, F., & Boas, I. (2010). Preparing for a Warmer World: Towards a Global Governance System to Protect Climate Refugees. Global Environmental Politics, 10(1), 60-88. https://doi.org/10.1162/glep.2010.10.1.60
Borrás, S. (2006). Refugiados ambientales: el nuevo desafío del derecho internacional del medio ambiente. Revista de Derecho (Valdivia), 19(2), 85-108. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-09502006000200004
Bortscheller, M. (2009). Equitable but Ineffective: How the Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities Hobbles the Global Fight Against Climate Change. Sustainable Development Law & Policy, 10(2), 49-68. https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/sdlp/vol10/iss2/15/
Cannon, S., Aram, E., Beiateuea, T., Kiareti, A., Peter, M., & Donner, S. (2021). Coral Reefs in the Gilbert Islands of Kiribati: Resistance, Resilience, and Recovery After More than a Decade of Multiple Stressors. PLoS One, 16(8),
1-29. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255304
Cauchi, J., Correa-Velez, I., & Bambrick, H. (2019). Climate Change, Food Security and Health in Kiribati: A Narrative Review of the Literature. Global Health Action, 12(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2019.1603683
Cauchi, J., Moncada, S., Bambrick, H., & Correa-Velez, I. (2021). Coping with Environmental Hazards and Shocks in Kiribati: Experiences of Climate Change by Atoll Communities in the Equatorial Pacific. Environmental Development, 37, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2020.100549
Crosby, A. (1995). The Past and Present of Environmental History. The American Historical Review, 100(4), 1177-1189. https://doi.org/10.2307/2168206 Dolla, S. (2015). International Legal Protection for Climate Refugees: Where Lies
the Haven for the Maldivian People? Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy, 6(1), 1-30. https://www.ajol.info/index.php/jsdlp/article/view/127999
Duque, P., & Cervantes-Cervantes, L. (2019). Responsabilidad Social Universitaria: una revisión sistemática y análisis bibliométrico. Estudios Gerenciales, 35(153), 451-464. https://doi.org/10.18046/j.estger.2019.153.3389
Ďurková, P., Gromilova, A., Kiss, B., & Plaku, M. (2012). Climate Refugees in the 21st Century. Regional Academy on the United Nations. Edmonds, C., & Noy, I. (2018). The Economics of Disaster Risks and Impacts in the Pacific. Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 27, 478-494. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-02-2018-0057
Eurich, J., Tekiau, A., Seto, K., Aram, E., Beiateuea, T., Golden, C., ... & McCauley, D. (2023). Resilience of a Giant Clam Subsistence Fishery in Kiribati to Climate Change. Pacific Conservation Biology, 30(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC22050
Farbotko, C., & Lazrus, H. (2012). The First Climate Refugees? Contesting Global Narratives of Climate Change in Tuvalu. Global Environmental Change, 22(2), 382-390. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.11.014
Farbotko, C., Stratford, E., & Lazrus, H. (2016). Climate Migrants and New Identities? The Geopolitics of Embracing or Rejecting Mobility. Social and Cultural Geography, 17(4), 533-552. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2015.1089589
Frumhoff, P., Heede, R., & Oreskes, N. (2015). The Climate Responsibilities of Industrial Carbon Producers. Climatic Change, 132(2), 157–171. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1472-5
Hartmann, B. (2010). Rethinking Climate Refugees and Climate Conflict: Rhetoric, Reality and the Politics of Policy Discourse. Journal of International Development: The Journal of the Development Studies Association, 22(2),
233-246. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.1676
Hervé, D. (2010). Noción y elementos de la justicia ambiental: directrices para su aplicación en la planificación territorial y en la evaluación ambiental estratégica. Revista de Derecho (Valdivia), 23(1), 9-36. https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=173716608001
Holloway, T., Fiore, A., & Hastings, M. (2003). Intercontinental Transport of Air Pollution: Will Emerging Science Lead to a New Hemispheric Treaty? Environmental Science & Technology, 37(20), 4535-4542. https://doi.org/10.1021/es034031g
Honkonen, T. (2009). The Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibility in Post‐2012 Climate Negotiations. Review of European Community & International Environmental Law, 18(3), 257-267. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9388.2009.00648.x
Hormio, S. (2023). Collective Responsibility for Climate Change. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 14(4), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.830
Houghton, R., & Woodwell, G. (1989). Global Climatic Change. Scientific American, 260(4), 36-47. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24987210
Hughes, J. (2009). An Environmental History of the World: Humankind's Changing Role in the Community of Life. Routledge.
Hughes, J. (2016). What is Environmental History? John Wiley & Sons. Islam, S., Reinstädtler, S., Reza, M., Afroze, S., & Azad, A. (2023). Climate Change Versus Livelihoods, Heritage, and Ecosystems in Small Island States of the Pacific: A Case Study on Tuvalu. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 25(8), 7669-7712. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02367-7
Jodoin, S., Savaresi, A., & Wewerinke-Singh, M. (2021). Rights-Based Approaches to Climate Decision-Making. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 52, 45-53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2021.06.004
Jolly, S., & Ahmad, N. (2019). Climate Refugees in South Asia. Springer Nature Singapore.
Kirsch, S. (2020). Why Pacific Islanders Stopped Worrying About the Apocalypse and Started Fighting Climate Change. American Anthropologist, 122(4), 827-839. https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13471
Klepp, S., & Fünfgeld, H. (2022). Tackling Knowledge and Power: An Environmental Justice Perspective on Climate Change Adaptation in Kiribati. Climate and Development, 14(8), 757-769. https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2021.1984866
Klinenberg, E., Araos, M., & Koslov, L. (2020). Sociology and the Climate Crisis. Annual Review of Sociology, 46, 649-669. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-121919-054750
Konrad, R. (2022). The Alliance of Small Island States: 39 States, One Voice: How AOSIS Sustains International Collective Action Despite Theoretical and Practical Obstacles. University of Twente.
Korstanje, M. (2018). The Theory of Mobilities: A Critical Analysis. En: M. Korstanje (Ed.) The Mobilities Paradox (pp. 10-37). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Lattès, R., & Wilson, C. (2013). Energy: The Countdown: A Report to the Club of Rome: Thierry De Montbrial. Elsevier.
Leimona, B., Mithöfer, D., Wibawa, G., & van Noordwijk, M. (2024). Sustainability Certification: Multiple Values of Nature Coexist in Value Chain Transformations Toward a Common but Differentiated Responsibility. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 66, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2023.101393
Lister, M. (2014). Climate Change Refugees. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 17(5), 618-634. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2014.919059
Loughry, M., & McAdam, J. (2008). Kiribati–Relocation and Adaptation. Forced Migration Review, 31(2), 51-52. https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2008-10/apo-nid257116.pdf
Matsui, Y. (2002). Some Aspects of the Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities. International Environmental Agreements, 2, 151-170. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020985925489
McDave, K., & Dagadu, P. (2023). Reconsidering the Status and Rights of Climate Refugees Under International Law. International Journal of Law and Society, 6(2), 168-172. https://doi.org/10.11648.j.ijls.20230602.18
McNamara, K. (2015). Cross-border Border migration Migration with Ddignity in Kiribati. Forced Migration Review, (49), 62-62. https://core.ac.uk/reader/43378540
Moore, J. (2003). The Modern World-System as Environmental History? Ecology and the Rise of Capitalism. Theory and Society, 32, 307-377. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024404620759
Mortreux, C., Jarillo, S., Barnett, J., & Waters, E. (2023). Climate Change and Migration from Atolls? No Evidence yet. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 60, 101234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2022.101234
Myers, N. (1993). Environmental Refugees in a Globally Warmed World. Bioscience, 43(11), 752-761. https://doi.org/10.2307/1312319
Nakayama, M., Drinkall, S., & Sasaki, D. (2019). Climate Change, Migration, and Vulnerability: Overview of the Special Issue. Journal of Disaster Research, 14(9), 1246-1253. https://doi.org/10.20965/jdr.2019.p1246
Organización de las Naciones Unidas. (1951). Convención sobre el estatuto de los refugiados. Conferencia de Plenipotenciarios sobre el Estatuto de los Refugiados y de los Apátridas (Naciones Unidas), convocada por la Asamblea General en su resolución 429 (V), del 14 de diciembre de 1950.
Organización de las Naciones Unidas, Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados. Protocolo sobre el Estatuto de los Refugiados (1967). Ginebra, Suiza.
Organización de las Naciones Unidas. (1972). Declaración de Estocolmo. Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Medio Humano. Estocolmo, Suecia.
Organización de las Naciones Unidas. (1992). Declaración de Río de Janeiro. Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático (CMNUCC). Río de Janeiro, Brasil.
Organización de las Naciones Unidas. (1994). Plan de Acción de Barbados. Report of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, Bridgetown, Barbados (26 April – 6 May 1994).
Organización de las Naciones Unidas. (2007). Declaración de Malé. Convención Marco sobre el Cambio Climático. Bali, 3 a 14 de diciembre.
Organización de las Naciones Unidas. (2015). Acuerdo de París. Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático (CMNUCC). Nueva York, Estados Unidos.
Orr, C. (2022). Environmental Aspirations in an Unsettled Time: Pierre Elliott Trudeau, The Club of Rome, and Canadian Environmental Politics in the 1970s. Canadian Journal of History, 57(2), 246-279. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjh-57-2-2021-0101
Paterson, M. (2014). Governing Mobilities, Mobilising Carbon. Mobilities, 9(4), 570-584. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2014.961260
Pauw, P., Brandi, C., Richerzhagen, C., Bauer, S., & Schmole, H. (2014). Different Perspectives on Differentiated Responsibilities: A State-of-the-Art Review of the Notion of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities in International Negotiations Discussion Paper 6. https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/199419
Piguet, E., Pécoud, A., & De Guchteneire, P. (2011). Migration and Climate Change: An Overview. Refugee Survey Quarterly, 30(3), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/hdr006
Presidencia de la República. Decreto 2811 de 1974 [con fuerza de ley]. Por el cual se dicta el Código Nacional de Recursos Naturales Renovables y de Protección al Medio Ambiente. Enero 27 de 1975. D. O: 34.243.
Rajamani, L. (2000). The Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibility and the Balance of Commitments Under the Climate Regime. Review of European Community and International Environmental Law, 9(2), 120-131.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9388.00243
Rosignoli, F. (2022). Environmental Justice for Climate Refugees. Routledge.
Sanson, A., Van Hoorn, J., & Burke, S. (2019). Responding to the Impacts of the Climate Crisis on Children and Youth. Child Development Perspectives, 13(4), 201-207. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12342
Stone, C. (2004). Common but differentiated Differentiated responsibilities Responsibilities in international International lawLaw. American Journal of International Law, 98(2), 276-301. https://doi.org/10.2307/3176729
Store, D., & Hunter, S. (2010). Kiribati: An Environmental ‘Perfect Storm.’ Australian Geographer, 41(2), 167-181. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049181003742294
Taupo, T. (2019). Sustainable Financing for Climate and Disaster Resilience in Atoll Islands: Evidence from Tuvalu and Kiribati. Pacific Economic Review, 24(5), 705-717. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0106.12295
United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007). IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar4/
Valencia, J., Aguirre, A., & Ríos, M. (2015). Desafíos de la justicia ambiental y el acceso a la justicia ambiental en el desplazamiento ambiental por efectos asociados al cambio climático. Luna Azul, (41), 323-347. https://redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=321739268018
Vousdoukas, M., Athanasiou, P., Giardino, A., Mentaschi, L., Stocchino, A., Kopp, R. E., ... & Feyen, L. (2023). Small Island Developing States Under Threat by Rising Seas Even in a 1.5° C Warming World. Nature Sustainability, 6, 1552–1564. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01230-5
Wallis, W. (2007). A Beginner’s Guide to Graph Theory. Springer.
Worster, D. (1994). The Wealth of Nature: Environmental History and the Ecological Imagination. Oxford University Press.
Yang, S., Keller, F., and Zheng, L. (2016). Social Network Analysis: Methods and Examples. SAGE Publications.
Zickgraf, C. (2019). Keeping People in Place: Political Factors of (im) Mobility and Climate Change. Social Sciences, 8(8), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci8080228
Zupic, I., & Čater, T. (2015). Bibliometric Methods in Management and Organization. Organizational Research Methods, 18(3), 429-472. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428114562629
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Iván Vargas-Chaves
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Once the manuscript is approved, the authors should file and sign the Right Transfer Format.
