The Protection of Environmentally-Displaced Persons in International Law
![handle is hein.journals/envlnw37 and id is 407 raw text is: THE PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENTALLY-DISPLACED
PERSONS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW
BY
AURELIE LOPEZ*
Be worried Be very worried Climate change isn't some vague
future problem-it's already damaging the planet at an alarming pace
warned Time Magazine on its cover of a special report on global
warning One may further add that, as a consequence, environmental
degradation is causing a large number of people to flee environments
that no longer sustain life.
The issue of environmental degradation is broad and complex.
This Article endeavors to better understand one particular aspect,
namely the phenomenon of environmentally-induced migration.
The critical issue of environmentally-induced migration has only
recently been highlighted by scientists, wlde subsequently provoking
much debate among legal academics. However, the extent to which
international law and practice provide the environmentally displaced
with physical protection from serious human rights violations
unfortunately proves to be very scant. Nevertheless, the particular issue
offprotecting those environmentally-&splaced does not pose any major
legal or political difficulties.
For many years the international definition of a refugee has
divided scholars. It is now time to refocus the discussion in different
terms in order to set forth constructive solutions. In this regard the
proposition to adopt a convention dealing specifically with
environmentally-induced migration is vey praiseworthy
J.D. 1989, Yale Law School; Visiting Professor, University of Michigan Law School (Fall 2006);
Angela S. Cooney Professor, Syracuse University College of Law; Adjunct Professor, State
University of New York; College of Environmental Science and Forestry Affiliate; Maxwell
School of Citizenship Center for Environmental Policy and Administration. The author would
like to thank Bill Banks, David Bernstein, Amy Sinden, William Wiecek, and the faculties of
UCLA Law School, Syracuse University College of Law, and Florida State University College of
Law for useful comments, Dean Hannah Arterian for research support, Molly Curtis for research
assistance, and the wonderful staff of the Barclay Law Library at Syracuse University College of
Law for their responsiveness to his never-ending stream of requests.
1 Time Inc., Cover, TheE, Apr. 3, 2006.
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The Protection of Environmentally-Displaced Persons in International Law
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