Environmental Law Seminar: Climate Migration

This course offers an introduction to the theory and practice of climate change migration and displacement, which has emerged as an interdisciplinary field in recent decades. First, we will study the literature conceptualizing this phenomenon, which can be temporary or permanent, internal or cross-border, sudden or gradual. Second, we will examine the scholarship debate regarding the multi-causal nature of human mobility, the proposed terminology, and its legal implications. Are people displaced by climate change and environmental disasters “climate refugees”, “environmental migrants,” or “internally displaced persons”? Third, we will explore the ways in which domestic and international law frameworks apply, if at all, to climate displaced individuals, examining current gaps in legal protection. Some of these will include U.S. immigration law, the Refugee Convention, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, among others. Finally, we will explore alternative frameworks of protection that advocates and scholars have proposed in the context of climate displacement. No pre-requisites are required but familiarity with international law is helpful.