Visibility, Dialogue, Political Representation, Unity
JUSTICE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MIGRANTS FOUNDATION AT A GLANCE
Through sharing migrants' stories, The Justice for Environmental Migrants Foundation aims to increase the visibility of environmental migrants which will promote dialogue, help them gain legal protections, and increase political representation.
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We aim to distribute the stories and experiences of individuals and communities largely affected by climate change in order to provoke dialogue. We hope that this dialogue will be inclusive of the needs of environmental migrants and will allow them to become active in the decision-making process about environmental practices that impact their lives. We also hope to help promote the idea that environmental migrants should gain legal status nationally. It becomes extremely difficult for individuals' voices to be heard when they do not have citizenship or legal protections. Moreover, environmental migrants will be primarily focused on meeting their basic human needs rather than advocating for more sustainable environmental practices and more equitable conditions.
Our website is meant to act as a transnational platform for environmental migrants to share their stories and as a way to urge government officials, policy-makers, and other people in power to advocate for the legal status of environmental migrants. We also hope to combat the effects of climate change by providing ways to become more sustainable and to make an impact on our government's environmental decisions. Check out our Make a Change page for more.
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Overall, by promoting visibility, fighting for adequate political representation, and gaining a understanding of the lives of individuals in these communities, we can being to understand ourselves as part of one global community, and promote a universal initiative to mitigate the effects of climate change and advocate for more equitable conditions of environmental migrants.
WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL MIGRATION?
Environmental migration is caused by the deterioration or destruction of certain habitats or regions –– this is the result of climate change, which is occurring rapidly due to resource extraction, industrialization, neoliberal capitalism, and many other unsustainable practices. Environmental migrants are people who are forced to leave their home region due to sudden or long-term changes to their local environment. These are changes that substantially compromise their well-being and livelihood.
Currently, environmental migrants are not legally recognized as refugees, meaning they have little to no legal protections or resources in their destination or host countries. This is arguably a moral catastrophe, considering 21.5 million people were displaced by climate related disasters between 2008 and 2016 – more than those fleeing war or persecution (efgfoundation.org).
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While no country is safe from climate change impacts, it’s the poorest and most vulnerable communities namely in the Global South - those who did the least to cause the climate crisis - who are hardest hit. In fact, although these countries are only responsible for 1% the world’s global emissions, least developed countries have seen 99% of the deaths from climate and weather-related disasters (ghf-ge.org).
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We believe those being directly affected by environmental migration should have the highest involvement in decisions regarding environmental practices; however, currently, those who are not directly affected, like people in power in Western countries, are the ones who ultimately make political decisions regarding these damaging environmental practices.
Lack of political representation is a core problem for migrants. Since environmental migrants do not have legal status or protections after being displaced, they do not have a space or the means to voice their injustices –– they are not legal citizens of their "new" country, and they have left their former country, so they do not have the right to vote or make political decisions. We advocate for a transnational space where their injustices can be adequately voiced without fear of deportation, or any other similar repercussions.