Essay
Subject: Environmental Law
Topic: Environmental Refugees: Does Global Environmental Law Offer Enough Legal Protection?
The
United Nations defines a refugee as a person who leaves their country due to
fear of being persecuted because of their gender, religion of other
differences. Since the basic understanding of refugees is that one is forced to
flee their country, then environmental refugees can be defined as people who
are forced to flee their homes or countries due to natural activities that are
caused by either nature or peoples activities. This migration may either be
temporary or permanent, depending on the degree of damage caused. In this time and
age, the term “environmental refugee” has greatly gained significance and
recognition in most places of the world. This is especially due to climate
changes caused by global warming. A factor resulting from global warming is the
case of desertification in several countries. Degradation of arable land to
deserts is common where heat is immense and water is a scarce resource. Such
situations are hardly controllable by mankind, presenting a nature force
ejecting people from these parts.
Often
one may come across an article talking about difficulties which people
experience. These include the livelihoods of people whose homes and properties
have been damaged by any unexpected natural occurrence. (Clark, 2010),
Environmental awareness has globally resurfaced in the eyes of the people, as
it is now clearer that changes in climate and other areas of the earth are
happening so fast and that it is only a matter of time that the earth’s face
changes, possibly for the worst. This awareness has been propelled by the media
and policymakers, making academic institutions further stressing on the issue.
This concern has widely spurred at this time since, with the continuing unknown
change in climate and the earth’s surface, sooner or later people may be
largely affected and displaced, the vulnerability being highest to those living
in the developing world. With the awareness of these changes, several
publications, books and articles have been made. Though they show the reasons
behind certain behaviour of people’s migration, most are limited to only cover
the dramatic and widely felt events. These are such as hurricane Katrina and
high magnitude earthquakes. The ignorance and little attention to low
environmental change forms may limit the control of number of environmental refugees,
making it a vulnerable situation for those on the verge of being displaced.
Does Global Environmental Law Offer Enough Legal Protection?
Experts
predict that by 2020, there will be approximately twenty million environmental
refugees, (Norman, 2002).When natural disasters strike the earth, earthquakes,
floods or storms, several people may be displaced. Their homes and possibly all
their property are lost in these unfortunate events. If these people are not
offered help from any international organizations or well-wishers in time, the
most probable scenario would be an increase in the number of such refugees,
causing the number to surpass, what organizations and governments can handle,
in terms of providing aid. An example of a natural case triggered by people is
that of population. Where people in an area are continually growing, beyond its
sustainability several disasters may arise from this. The most common case
would be deforestation, especially if land for settlement and small scale
farming is a scarce resource. This creates a “survival for the fittest”
scenario, making people owe to poverty and drought. These people would have to
consider other means of survival, the widest option being to leave their
motherland and search for places that are more favourable.
Until
around the 1960s, no particular international agreements had been made. This
did little to protect the environment. (Alexander, ET at., 2007), in this world
environmental conference of 1972, the United Nations argued on the basis that man
shapes the environment, particularly his own. This gives him sustenance and the
opportunity for setting moral, spiritual and social standards. Through the
evolution stages mankind has gone through, it has reached a point that science
and technology can be easily used to enhance and change the environment as man
wishes. This may happen on a wide scale, if uncontrollably used, transform the
environment into different ways which may cause unrest to people, (Alexander,
ET at., 2007). The environment issue should be considered as a matter of
interest to all people, including all governments in the world considering that
any change in the environment may affect the well-being of people and
consequently the growth of several economies. With this duty at hand, the
governments should consider formulating protection of human environment from
being damaged or causing of damage to anyone through alters.
The
international environmental laws were set up around the 1960s but properly
formulated in the 1970s as part of the public international laws. After the
Stockholm Conference in 1972, interest on protecting the environment was
steadily increasing among nations, making this one of the fastest growing
international law. Some of the important environmental aspects covered in this
law include global warming, destruction of the ozone layer, desertification and
deforestation, especially the depletion of tropical rain forests, pollution,
and transportation of hazardous commodities and the trade of merchandise from endangered
animal or plant species, such as ivory. The international environmental law has
also taken charge of some international laws such as human rights and business
trade, dictating them in a way that is not harmful to the human environment.
The environment has been protected in more ways other than this. These are such
as treaties and agreements made by governments, international organizations and
international laws that are put in place for the protection of the environment.
For the laws to be well implemented at the ground level, countries have put up
local municipal regulations that govern the protection of the environment.
The 21st
century has seen environmental change become widespread on both global and
regional levels. The International Environmental Law emphasizes that
environmental damage caused by the increasing rate of development may approach
economic and environmental limit causing an unsustainable threat, (Nanda V.
& Pring, 2012). In today’s rapid increase in environmental disasters, the
international environmental law seeks to assess the effectiveness of the
current laws. There is also importance in making the world policy makers aware
of the role they can play in making sure that high governance and
implementation of laws is enforced for better development of the world as a
whole, (Kenji Watanabe & Saeko Ikeda, 2010). Unfortunately, as the
environmental laws continue to be refined, more hazards and challenges continue
to emerge, causing a setback for the implementation of these laws.
A
conference on environmental change and human rights was held on December 2012.
At this discussion, the rights of the environmental refugees were looked at
into depth, revealing their legal and economic status. The migration of these
refugees being highly associated with environmental changes, the basic agenda
to focus on was that of neglect of human rights. The aim of this conference was
to consider human rights, bringing them together and creating a different
perspective that relates easily with people and organizations. This was
especially with respect to people’s displacements through environmental
changes.
In
the past, policy makers may have neglected or failed to consider certain
consequences when laying up the environmental laws and tracking them to keep up
their consistent significance. Treaty congestion may have risen from this,
creating a more complex situation between international and national relations,
where low cohesion among international and national laws was experienced,
playing a huge role in the ineffectiveness of the laws. Existence of treaty
congestion may cause disagreements on funding mechanisms, inconsistent
agreements and incapacitate agreements depending on the challenge that each
country faces.
The
environmental degradation has recently come into the light and realized by
organizations around the world. This has also come with its negative effects,
where the number of environmental refugees has increased rapidly in the
previous years. Several attention measures should be considered to those people
who are made to flee their homes unwillingly by the harsh natural disasters
that seem to happen rather frequent than they would be expected. (Sven
Pfeiffer, 2008)
Why
is it Necessary to Provide Environmental Refugees with sufficient Protection?
The
question of environmental refugees getting legal protection from the
environmental laws has majorly raised eyebrows as most people would argue that
if so, then the protection of their rights has not been done
adequately.(Christen Cournil, 2009), All around the world, with the issue of
environmental degradation becoming a major crisis for this 21st
century, reports from several organizations, agencies as well as academic
researchers have been generated to define and discuss how the legal protection
of environmental migrants has been achieved. Though this much attention has
been put on this matter, still there has not been any relevant legal protection
to environmental refugees especially those from the developing world.
Therefore, the degree of relevance and reality of issues being discussed should
be targeted to where they impact so as to make a difference and avoid the 21st
century crises that are developing by the day.
A
failure on the part of the international environmental laws is the lack of
regulating the number of environmental refugees that settle in a particular
country or area. In the previous years, the world has generally experienced a
series of natural disasters in which most are caused by climate change. This
may persist or get worse, so long as no appropriate measures are taken to
control the climate change. (DW Akademie), Statistics from expert researchers
are that, between a hundred thousand to two hundred thousand Somali refugees
have fled to Kenya due to the unbearable climatic conditions in Somalia. Though
war was the major drive force of these migrations, a major role was greatly
influenced by drought and famine that was persistent in the area. Most of the
families there survive on nomadism and since most of the animals had died as a
result of these conditions, they could not stay within their boundaries anymore
and so they had to abandon their plight. Since there is little agreement on the
way that is best to address the issue of climate change, migration displacement
and protection of the migrants, there is a gap with respect to displacement and
cross-border migration (Walter Kalin & Nina Schrepfer, 2012).
Conferences
on issues of international refugees have been held to talk about the welfare of
these refugees. (Walter Kalin) says that there is a lot of resistance to the
legal agreements that have been made by the international community. He notes
that countries which have absorbed a lot of refugees, and have actually been
affected by the sudden influx have the fear to take in more people. This may
not come out obviously but the risk of destroying the economy of a country
stands at its peak, where voluminous migration is a common day’s event. Some
adaptation strategies could be developed to put such pressure at ease. The
international community agreed that countries, especially those in the
southern, may have to consider adapting to climate change and also adapt
protective means from natural disasters. Other than the international measures,
easier local solutions have been formulated to also help deal with such
situations. With the increase in global warming, the earth’s temperature also
increases gradually by the day. This may immensely disadvantage farmers
especially those that grow crops that require less heat as their favourable
conditions. In this case, it is up to a country to take responsibility and
track the right initiatives to follow in making sure that local solutions are
formulated and successfully implemented. This may boost the country’s economy
and additionally reduce the number of environmental migrants that would
otherwise be a bigger problem.
(Frank
& Ingrid, 2008), in August 2006, a meeting by representatives of
governments was organized. Also, representatives from United Nations,
humanitarian organizations as well as other relevant non-governmental
organizations were invited to the meeting. The main agenda was to tackle the
issue of protection of environmental refugees. For some countries this issue is
of great concern and mostly national recognition. These countries, such as the
Maldives are located offshore and slightly above the sea levels, hence being
the most prone to natural disasters. In such countries, the economic growth and
stability may weaken due to frequent environmental refugees who depend solely
on aid, be it from government or any organization willing to help. Though at
the moment, environmental refugees may not seem of international concern, the
meeting was set to address the adverse effect that would later be experienced
by other countries. With the increasing change in climate, most of these island
countries may end up being completely uninhabitable. Furthermore, the
increasing migration caused by climate change, may later become a global threat
issue if not solved early in time. (Frank & Ingrid, 2008), state that by
2050, more than 200 million people would have to give up their homes. These
statistics may not be entirely correct but the error-margin was greatly reduced
as several factors relating to climate change and human migration were
accurately considered. These are global warming and temperature increase,
population and economic growth, rise of sea level and peoples activities that
impact the environment.
In
handling environmental refugees and their legal protection, the issue has been
poorly handled over time by the relevant organizations. The United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) can only deal with up to ten million
refugees. If by any chance the number would slightly increase, consequent
environmental and economic threats may spur, leading the world to a dangerous
state. To avoid such situations, major reforms should be put into place to
ensure that none of these happens. Thus, in the meeting held at Maldives,
August 2006, amendments relating to the refugee status were made, altering the
mandate that the United Nations was required to meet. The amendment may not
have been as effective as expected, considering the poor state of the
environmental refugees and their increasing number.
In
the protection of the rights of the environmental refugees, special funding may
be required and so governments of every country should set aside refugee
funding, while structuring their countries budgets. Special funding mechanism
should also be considered, to provide efficient means of disseminating the funds
to those who need them most. In governance of the refugee funds, an independent
authority should take charge. To increase the refugee protection funds
considerations should be made in coupling them with the current financial
mechanisms, such as levies and cross-border charges, be it trade of travel.
Environmental
law is made up of policies set to protect the environment, natural resources
and the people affected by impact of human activities to the environment. It is
also made up of international as well as national agreements, treaties and
policies. The law, within the environmental law, is administered by the United
States Environmental Protection Agency to make sure that people’s health and
the natural environment are protected, (HG.org Global Legal Resources).
A
report has been released by the European parliament aimed at ways in which
European nations could offer protection to people displaced due to
environmental changes. The report shows that there exists a gap in legal
protection such as protection of people crossing border lines in climatic
change context. However, some disagree saying the new international treaty is
undesirable. This hence causes examination of existing law application and how
it could be extended in support of the climatic and environmental refugees.
According to the Directorate General for Internal Policies of the European
parliament, climate change could lead to changing migration patterns and
exacerbation on existing pressures of migration. Also, there are various
several available options such as renegotiation of the refugees’ convention
which are a problem and with options which extend existing protection.
Reasons for Writing this Paper
There
is complexity however in the impacts caused by climatic changes and migration
with it being clear that it increased mobility and altered exit migratory
patterns is influenced highly by climatic changes. Rapid onset events such as cyclones
lead to temporary movements with how long displacements are either long or
short term depending on the management of the disaster. For more people to
return for example, advanced planning and properly devised construction plays a
major role. Slow onset events such as desertification and landslides lead to
livelihood deterioration over a long period of time and in turn leading to
displacements. Due to the changes being slow and the presence of different
factors fuelling migration, it gets hard to properly analyse that climate
change is the main cause of a particular movement. An exception would be a rise
in water at sea level and it is easy to identify those at risk and their reason
to move. However, migration can be seen as a positive migration strategy and
should be avoided been seeing as failure to adapt.
There
being several gaps in legal protection for immigrants displaced by
environmental change there exists several options to improve their protection.
An option could be extension of the scope of the 1951 Refugee Convention which
may be simple to renegotiate, however, it risks the existing refugees’ status
of the convention being devalued. It could lead to weakening of some areas.
There exist various proposals aimed at creating an entirely new instrument that
is legalised such as that from the Swedish Member of parliament Tina Acketoft
and others from law specialists at the University of Limoges amongst others.
There
have been suggestions to add new protocol under the law defining and offering
protection to people displaced by climatic change. The Cancun adoption
framework was adopted in 2011 including a paragraph about climatic changes and displacements
which argue thatsmall’s step to work on climatic induced displacement have opened
new windows. Temporary protection is offered by most countries for those
displaced by natural disasters or conflict. The United States for instance
offered protection to the Nicaraguans after Hurricane Mitch and also the
Hondurans. Such measures can be amended in order to provide protection for
displaced people due to environmental changes but it gets difficult to oversee
this through. This is because it applies to only those within the country and
not to those affected by slow onset events and those unable to go back.
The
international environmental laws were put in place in the year 1960s but
correctly formulated in the year 1970s as part of the public intercontinental
laws. After the Stockholm Conference in 1972, curiosity on defending the
environment was progressively increasing among nations, making this one of the
greatest growing global law. In additions, some of the significant
environmental aspects covered in this law include global warming, annihilation
of the ozone layer, desertification and deforestation, in particular the
diminution of humid rain forests, pollution, and transportation of hazardous
commodities and the trade of products from scarce animal or plant species, such
as ivory. The international environmental law has also taken accuse of some
global laws such as human rights and commerce trade, ordering them in a way
that is not destructive to the human environment. The environment has been
protected in more ways other than this. These are such as treaties and
agreements made by governments, international organizations and international
laws that are put in place for the protection of the environment. For the laws
to be well put into practice at the ground level, countries have put up local
community regulations that govern the defence of the environment.
Varying
degrees of success have been ascertained to resettling people. Looking at many
Pacific Island states, resettlement has been used in response to mineral action
due to the risks associated with mines. However, theprojects are in conflict
with some of the Guiding Principles of Internal Displacement hence in response
to these problems brought up by resettlement guidelines drawn by the World Bank
and Asian Development Bank’s against resettlement. Vulnerability has to be
reduced in implementation of good land management policies in that it should
involve building resilience that helps people to stay. This also means
reversing and getting rid of policies that harden land management policies with
deploying initiative needed for protection of residences at their destinations.
For job creation and building infrastructure, projects are required.
However, several
aspects of law in the European Union protects refugees, displaced people and migrants
with other areas offering protection for those displaced by climatic change.
Conceivably, other areas could also provide protection with the existing points
of the law falling within four major categories. The first being complementary
protection which is a qualification directive identifying those qualifying and
those who fail to qualify for international protection with it being unlikely
that those displaced by climatic change would therefore qualify for protection
under the directive. The directive could however be changed for instance to
extend the definition of serious danger to being covered under results of rapid
onset of natural disasters and calamities. The Temporary Protection Directive can
also offer protection but it only applies to many people and furthermore
happens to be granted in circumstances which are exceptional. Whether to grant
it or not is fully under the discretion of members of the European Union and
cannot be applied for by an individual rather by a group, a large one for that
matter. Mainly, to protect displaced people, very few countries have introduced
national legislation but however several countries offer legislation that when
interpreted in a certain way it could offer protection to them.
According
to the European Commission publication of 2009 on Establishment of a joint
European Union resettlement programme, in the context of the common European
Union Asylum System, the European Union should be more engaged in resettling
refugees who are from outside the European Union. For every person resettled,
from the European Union compensation can be claimed under the European Refugee
Fund Member states with the fund defining several priority categories, especially
for which the money is available for vulnerable people. The current categories
have been argued to be too rigid and not facilitating for responses to newly
arisen needs like displacement of people due to effects of change in climate
patterns. The commission suggests regular reviewing and updating of the
priorities to facilitate for new changes. Inclusion of such people would prove
a financial incentive for countries to offer resettlement.
Human
populations are always affected by both slow and sudden onset ecological events
which in the last decade and a half have received a relatively high degree of
public attention which requires perception and analysis in context of rising
awareness and fears linked to the possible causes of climatic change. Bronen,
2009 states that climatic change was only linked to one severe impact which
could only be immigration which can be understood as migration induced by
climatic factors and change. Some people have been displaced due to shoreline
erosion, flooding in coastal areas hence environmental migrants being on the
rise and it is perceived that by the year 2050 they would range up to hundreds
of millions or even up to a billion by the year 2060.
Migration
is usually affected by social, political and economic factors with other
factors such as ecological stimuli which are argued to be the sole drivers.
There have been various establishments as well as research initiatives aimed at
the environmental migration mainly concerning the classification of
environmentally induced migration nexus and the severity of ecological factors
to making migration decisions. The most recent categorization approach has
three main categories.
Environmental
emergency migration is the first category with these being those who leave
their homes in a move to save their lives. Environmentally forced migration
occurs to those who when faced with rapid onset environmental hazards leave in
order to escape from further deterioration hazards of the environment. Using
the term refugees to refer to people in the two categories, whether climatic or
environmental refugees, is highly disregarded since due to legal implications
it has misleading implications. In the case where slow onset environmental
hazards occur, the urgency to move is not high as compared to those faced by
rapid onset environmental hazards and calamities. Environmentally motivated
migrants are those who may respond to environmental degradation with migration
though it is not a last resort action or an immediate emergency action. The availability
of having an alternative livelihood in the case of a slow onset hazard is what
differentiates forced and environmentally motivated migrants.
Environmental
emergency migrants can turn into environmentally motivated migrants if their
impacted areas face rapid and effective social political and economic recovery
such that they do not return. An environmental emergency migrant can become an
environmentally forced migrant when they fail to return after rather slow and
ineffective recovery in general. The recent introduction of the categorization
is quite unclear since there are no proper means of defining whether
environmental factors are dominant and the things that qualify one as an
environmental or non-environmental migrant, all this questions hence in the end
become unanswered.
Collection
of additional data in order to sharpen the relevant concepts in regard to the
empirical basis of environmental immigration is imminent since it still is
rather weak. According to the British Foresight Initiative on Migration and
Global Environmental Change, 2011 and EACH-FOR, 2009 and other emerging systems
of monitoring it is possible to identify carefully trends and global
characteristics of environmental migrants.
On
observation of current trends of environmental migration, several conclusions
can be made such as that the number of people being displaced varies between
thirty six million in 2008 and seventeen million in 2009.
In international
environmental laws, there is a distinction between hard and soft laws where
hard laws refers to principles directly enforceable by both a national or
international body while soft laws are mean to be incorporated and influence
individual nations to respect various norms and incorporate them. However,
despite these agreements at times obliging countries to adopt implementing
legislation in a court of law they are not enforceable on their own (Shyam,
2012). The place where one takes a suit with respect to a treaty or convention
failing to specify an international forum that has subject matter jurisdiction
is the member state’s domestic system. The forum will be unavailable in case
the state sued lacks domestic implementation legislation in place to hear the
dispute.
When
asked why any law is enacted either domestically or internationally, some would
state that it is due to being a moral statement concerning intolerable
behaviour by society. Others would argue that the reason penalties are attached
to breaking of the law is to deter conduct that is considered outlawed. Others
when questioned would maintain that presence of law socializes members of
society to behave according to a certain ethical code, especially where there
are inefficiencies in enforcement. The purpose of international environmental
law can either be said to be a moral statement or a deterrence and by others a
social tool. Those against it being a moral statement argue whether the many
framework conventions are the least bit motivational. Those who think of it as
a global community simply put it as the people who like to believe in such
things. Regarding it as a deterrence, there comes the questions why there are
less international forums aimed at dispute resolution and the lack of more
international bodies aimed at empowering enforcement of agreements alongside more
substantial requirements and more hard law self-executing agreements. Some ask
whether the socialization technique is functioning and whether more nations are
environmentally aware.
State
parties which are in the in the position of having various obligations under
one treaty all depending on how all legislative, judicial and executive bodies
implement the treaty and they lie on domestic legislation in implementing and
enforcing international environmental agreements. Riche countries are perceived
to be at a better position to comply with treaties in relation to the cost and
burden on administrators responsible in the creation and implementation of the
treaty.
Urgency
in the protection of global commons from environmental vandalism acts is
growing especially in the twenty first century with the environmental crises
that have had idiosyncrasies necessitating implementation of environmental law
in a new vision with embracing the global collectives and transaction of
national boundaries (Ramlogan, 2002).
Environmental
laws have been the main mechanism in addressing and tackling and promoting
conservation of natural resources and other environmental control forms
addressing the issue of concern relating to the issues of ecological
degradation being a global concern. Encompassing hundreds of bothregionaland
international treaties alongside thousands of laws and other numerous
administrative regulations implemented in more than a hundred and eighty
nations globally with multilateral organizations like the United Nations
agencies alongside several banks being in the realm of International
Environmental Law. Preceding every new treaty before it is globally accepted it
is followed by a number of conferences, multiple governments lobbying, drafting
of papers by government officials and affected interest groups, back door
negotiations, trade and industrial representatives groups, scientists,
multilateral organizations and anybody else at stake in the outcome. The
ratified treaty on International Environmental Laws is followed by a series of
party conferences, secretariat reports and advisory committees’ ad active
efforts that are similar and permeate international environmental processes of
making of laws. Since the 1972 declaration at Stockholm, the Stockholm
Declaration on the Human Environment, the field of International Environmental
Law has faced high salience and commendable growth rate.
However,
it is unfortunate that despite the rapid creation of the International
Environmental Law body has not either prevented or slowed down significantly
the rapidly accelerating world-wide ecological degradation. Proponents of the
International Environmental Law body have been said to have a myopic
perspective with imaginations of the International Environmental Law succeeding
yet in reality it is dying. It is a matter of disagreeing that the paper
agreements and accomplishments compared to the actual achievements are uncommon
especially in some developing countries and is worth extolling. There exists no
clear boundary between where the differences between International and National
process of making laws since International Environmental Law leaves off where
national law commences. For purpose of meeting obligations put by international
agreements, national environmental laws have hence been enacted.
International
Environmental Law agreements have been more often than not been conversely
modelled after environmental laws of developed states such as the United States
of America where the widespread adoption of environmental impact assessment
from the National Environmental Agency Policy Act of the year 1970. Many
conservational and sustainable developments in legalised mandates arise from
requirements maintained by banks of international development, foreign aid
programs, and agencies of the United Nations Programmes among other
organizations being prerequisites for loans, grants, various alternative forms
of economic assistance or technological transfers. In order to seem responsible
as members of the community of nations, model environmental laws are enacted by
developing nations and states though these copied and architectural laws have
little or no impact to both ecological and social circumstances with Third
World nations adopting them.
Participation
in international conferences relating to environmental issues requires
developing countries to demonstrate the appropriate awareness and concerns
through ratifying treaties and enacting paper framework of domestic
environmental laws. They are also required to address issues affecting national
interests. Putting into consideration, these practices and incentives in the
aggregate raise suspicion of developing states of having little environmental
laws of any kind if not for rather implicit pressures which are exerted by the already
developed nations and multilateral institutions. However, these environmental
laws are hortatory words unfortunately unless effective implementation takes
place though the norm is non-implementation, lack of them being enforced and
lack of compliance being so common. In poor nations, there is the illusion of
nation and international combination of myopia, idealism and cynicism which
induces states into ratification of treaties and enacting domestic laws without
the expectation of either environmental laws being enforced poorly there being
a very peculiar mixture of a compliance or implementation. There are three
general clusters at a high level of generality of reasons of the reason as to
why laws are rarely successful in developed states.
International
Environmental Law bodies should realise that even the most naïve and
enthusiastic proponents that environmental protection due to complexity and
cost must be on a continual basis be renewed, revised and maintained.
Developing nations lack prerequisites for trained personnel scientific
knowledge, managerial expertise, institutional frameworks financial resources
and popular support critical and necessary for implementation and offering of
effective environmental protection ways on a wide scale. Legal procurements cannot
serve as substitutes forth indispensable requirements despite being ambiguous
and sweeping.
Despite a
variety on United Nations agencies and various building initiatives began by
governments of developing nations and other multilateral organizations with few
if any attaining any technical, financial or managerial capabilities to
implement conservational measures on a broad frontier. Success in absence of
these qualities is impossible in spite of the effort pumped in by the
government and its people wanting to preserve their national heritage.
Inadequate commitments and popular support linked to overwhelming governmental
priorities and entrepreneurs in poor nations are virtually set to increase
population development opportunities. Those citizens who are overwhelmed and
caught up in the everyday activities end up with having all their priorities
being economic in an overwhelming manner. Being given such priorities is such a
rare occurrence indeed in that there is hindrance on any development project
conflicting either nationally or internationally environmental laws. Though as
it occurs in most countries due to lack of knowledge of the laws, most people
are damaging natural systems and features due to them not being aware of the
impact or relevance that the environmental laws being applied nationally and
internationally have or their relevance and impact.
Most
if not all governments in developing countries lack a systematic manner of implementation
and means of monitoring compliance with environmental laws or used for
enforcement of laws in a case of lack of compliance to the laws. Despite in
some areas having widespread practices of use of environmentally destructive
and social disadvantages of use of cyanide and dynamite for fishing, slash and
burn as a method of deforestation or water pollution toxically, there is very
seldom interference by the governments with flagrant violations for their
environmental policies.
In
poor nations, governments want to have ratified reasons in plenty for
ratification of environmental treaties and in enacting of domestic laws of
conservation despite lack of interest in enforcement of such laws (Schraven,
2012). Most governments would like to be
identified as responsible members in a community of nations and have the
ability to influence and control choices made may turn on the perception being
adopted. Participation in efforts of making laws could be said to be
advantageous and be deemed significantly important by governments in spite of
results being insignificant and irrelevant. Participation in international
development proceeding on environmental issues for most if not all third world
countries being on an equal footing with developed countries offers them a
chance to reinforce their identity and importance internationally. This
participation with other developing and developed nations may in most cases
influence pursuing of specific interests of national importance as they are
perceived by them. Maintenance of adequate environmental protection laws more
often than not controls the foreign aid they receive or technical assistance
from developed nations and multilateral organizations. An example is that the
World Bank requires applicant to have demonstrated through a process of
submitting documents where governments possess appropriate legal framework for
mandating environmental impact of assessments and mitigation of ecological
damage resulting from development projects.
Developing
nations also need ratification of International Environmental Laws agreements
and enacting environmental law as a bid and precondition in order to obtain
trade advantages which are offered by wealthy nations driven by concerns linked
to the environment. The North American Free Trade Agreement is an example of
such whereby the primary motivation of all the three countries was to put trade
and economic growth on a rise though environmentalist in both the United States
and Canada put out a threat to The North American Free Trade Agreement that
they would derail it unless Mexico upgraded its policies on environmental
protection. Mexico adopted strong Lawson pollution control and conservation on
paper though legal there has been notable erratic if not illusory
implementation.
According
to Clark (2010), often one may come across written materials talking about
difficulties which people comes across. These include the business of people
whose homes and properties have been damaged by any unexpected natural
occurrence. Ecological awareness has globally resurfaced in the eyes of the
people, as it is now clearer that changes in climate and other areas of the
earth are happening so fast and that it is only a matter of time that the
earth’s face changes, possibly for the worst. This awareness has been propelled
by the media and policymakers, making academic organizations further stressing
on the issue. This concern has widely spurred at this time since, with the
continuing unidentified change in climate and the earth’s surface, sooner or
later people may be mainly affected and displaced, the vulnerability being uppermost
to those living in the developing world. With the awareness of these changes,
several publications, books and articles have been made. Though, they show the
reasons following certain actions of people’s migration, most are limited to
only cover the dramatic and widely felt events. These are such as hurricane
Katrina and high extent earthquakes. The lack of knowledge and little attention
to low environmental change forms may limit the control of number of
environmental refugees, making it a vulnerable state of affairs for those on
the edge of being emigrant.
Environmental
crisis migrants can turn into environmentally enthused migrants if their
impacted areas face speedy and successful social, political and economic
recuperation such that they do not return. An environmental emergency migrant
can become an environmentally forced nomad when they fail to return after
rather slow and ineffective recovery in general. The recent introduction of the
categorization is quite unclear since there are no proper means of defining
whether environmental factors are dominant and the things that qualify one as
an environmental or non-environmental migrant, all this questions hence in the
end become unanswered. Generally, collection of additional data in order to
sharpen the relevant concepts in regard to the empirical basis of environmental
immigration is imminent since it still is rather weak.
International
Environmental Laws agreements and national conversation laws have been adopted
and may defuse publicity and controversial laws that could deter potential
investments in the state. Some environmentalists for instance have publicized
often the relatively high rates of deforestation especially notable in the
state of Sarawak on Borneo in Malaysia which in turn conflicts with the Sarawak
government and its attempts to attract tourists by emphasizing possession of
the largest and most pristine rain forest areas around the globe (UNHCR, 2002).
Irrespective of whether a government wants to possess favourable treatment from
either other governments, multilateral organizations or private parties, a
visible indication by obtaining paper laws shows seriousness in taking
environmental objectives.
Governments
may achieve the best of both worlds politically through enacting of strict and
firm conservation laws in order to help environmentalists however failure to
implement the laws or enforcing them to reduce costs and accommodation of
pressures from other business interests. A major point to be kept in mind is
that most governments in developing countries may derive benefits resulting
from adopting conservation laws having little connection to the ecological and
social benefits resulting from protection of the environment. Most of other
governments however fail to make any serious attempts to stay in line to their
legal obligations.
References
Afifi
TR & Koko.W. 2013. ‘Climate change, migration, and displacementThe Encyclopedia of Global Human
Migration
Alexander
C, & Dinah S, 2007. Guide to International Environmental Law: Stockholm
Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
Christel
Cournil, November 28, 2009. Migration and Climate Change: The Question of
the Protection of ‘Environmental Refugees’ from the Standpoint of International
Law, University of Paris XIII Nord
Clark
L. Gray, (January, 2010), Population Reference Bureau: Environmental
Refugees or Economic Migrants? Retrieved from http://www.prb.org/Articles/2010/environmentalmigrants.aspx
DW Akademie,
Environment: Climate Change Refugees Lack Legal Protection, Retrieved
from,
http://www.dw.de/climate-change-refugees-lack-legal-protection/a-16555126
Eco
Vitality Combining Conservation and Development in Poor. Causes of
Environmental Laws Failures. Retrieved from
www.ecovitality.org/badlaw.htm
Environmental
Migration in Southern Africa:
Towards
a Proposed Strategy for Action
Ethan H, 2006,
Environmental Refugees: How Many, How Bad?
http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/refugee/abstracts-fcat5.php
Frank,
B, & Ingrid, B, December, 2008. Protecting Climate Refugees: The Case
for a Global Protocol, Retrieved from http://www.environmentmagazine.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/November-December%202008/Biermann-Boas-full.html
HG.org
Global Legal Resources, 2003. Environment Law: Guide to Environmental and
National Resources Law, Retrieved from http://www.ht.org/environ.html
International
Environmental Law. Retrieved from www.princeton.edu/
James,
M, Rethinking the 'debate on environmental refugees': from 'maximalists and
minimalists' to 'proponents and critics'. University of Oxford, U.K,
Refugee Studies Centre
Joana,
Z, February 22, 2011. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from
www.huffintonpost.com/
Jürgen,
S, Michael, B, & Hans, G, 2010. Climate Change, Human Security and Violent
Conflict: Challenges for the Society
http://humanrights.ie/international-lawinternational-human-rights/floods-in-pakistan-a-case-for-a-convention-on-climate-change-refugees/
Kenji,
W, & Saeko, I, December 24, 2010. The Future of International Law: What
is the Future for International Environmental Law? N. Redelinghuys & A.
J. Pelser (2002) pp. 33-53.
Nanda
V. & Pring, 2012.International Environmental Law and Policy for the 21st
Century, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Boston, MA
Norman,
M, April, 2002. Environmental Refugees: A Growing Phenomenon of the 21st
Century, University of Oxford, Oxford, and U.K
Norman,
M, (April 29, 2002), Environmental Refugees: A Growing Phenomenon of the 21st
Century http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1692964/
Purokayo,
SG 2013, ‘Implications of environmental security-related factors as determinant
of residential mobility in Jimeta-Yola, Nigeria’, International Journal of
Arts and Commerce, Vol. 2 No. 2 Available from <http://www.ijac.org.uk/images/frontImages/gallery/Vol._2_No._2/25.pdf>
accessed 14 March 2013.
Rajendra,
R, Dr., 2002. Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, Volume 3, 2001-2002. The
Environment and International Law: Rethinking the Traditional Approach.
Shawkat,
A et al (ed.) 2012, Rout ledge Handbook of International Environmental Law,
Rout ledge, New York.
Schraven,
B.: Policy Perspective, 2012.Policy Migration for Environmentally Induced
Migration. Retrieved from www.migrationeducation.de/56.1.html?&rid=204&cHash=a21cdaf75c0f3a47c2f5ef315f1c353d
Shyam;
D, 12th July, 2012. International Environmental Law. Retrieved from www.ceeraindia.org/documents/internationalenvtlawshyamdiwan.htm
Sven,
P, (September, 2008), Environmental Refugees: How to Ensure Adequate Legal
Protection, University of Bristol
Terminski,
B 2012, ‘Towards Recognition and Protection of Forced Environmental Migrants in
the Public International Law: Refugee or IDPs Umbrella’, Available from:
<http://www.cedem.ulg.ac.be/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Environmentally-Induced-Displacement-Terminski-1.pdf>
accessed 14 March 2013.
UK
Climate Change & Migration Coalition, March 20, 2012. ReportSummary: “Climate
Refugees” Legal and Policy Responses to Environmentally Induced Migration. Retrieved
fromwww.climatemigration.org.uk/report-summary-climate-refugees-legal-and-policy-responses-to-environmentally-induced-migration/
UNHCR
1951, Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees.
Available from <http://www.unhcr.org/protect/PROTECTION/3b66c2aa10.pdf>
accessed 14 March 2013.
Walter,
K. & Nina, F, February, 2012. Division of International Protection: Protecting
People Crossing Borders in the Context of Climate Change, University of
Bern, Switzerland
UNHCR,
2002. A Safety Net,
http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646cc8.html