Hathaway, James C. --- "Afterword" [2017] ELECD 1364; in Mayer, Benoît; Crépeau, François (eds), "Research Handbook on Climate Change, Migration and the Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 467

Book Title: Research Handbook on Climate Change, Migration and the Law

Editor(s): Mayer, Benoît; Crépeau, François

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781785366581

Section Title: Afterword

Author(s): Hathaway, James C.

Number of pages: 4

Extract:

Afterword
James C. Hathaway


The overwhelming sense one takes away from this volume is that we as
international lawyers are struggling to come to grips with the phenomenon
of migration due to climate change. Both conceptually and operationally,
we are in a bit of a muddle.
We can, I think, rise to the challenge of conceptualization. While
Nicholson's contribution to this volume correctly observes that some degree
of conceptual incoherence is inherent when describing a phenomenon as
complex as migration due to climate change, there can be little doubt
that climate alone is rarely the result solely of environmental risk. Rather,
as McLeman insists, climate change more commonly combines with
economic, social, and political phenomena; it normally forms part, rather
than being the sole determinant, of a decision to move. Farbotko's call to
come to a more nuanced understanding of the nature of human agency
among climate migrants is thus in my view compelling, and is an under-
standing that must be effectively communicated to journalists and other
opinion leaders as Randall counsels.
Indeed, the fact that climate is normally only an aspect of the migration
calculus means that Cournil's rather pessimistic view of the conceptual
relevance of refugee law is debatable. Leading states have embraced a
human rights-based approach to understanding when someone is at
risk of being persecuted, and have made clear that serious threats to
socioeconomic rights are included. The old view that the state of origin
had to have caused ­ rather than ...