Environment and Migration

Environmentally induced migration is not new, people have always been moving in response to changes in their environment, either temporarily or permanently. However, the rate and scale of this migration are expected to be multiplied in the next future. Current predictions of the number of people who will be displaced, either directly or indirectly, by environmental "events" and "processes", vary enormously. Nonetheless there has been a growing recognition that environment - induced migration is likely to become one of the key challenges of the 21st century, which must be addressed to ensure human security and sustainable development. Objective of the Seminar has been to outline this phenomenon and review the extent to which people whose movements are induced by environmental degradation are protected under the existing international legal framework, to identify normative gaps as well as potential and proposed solutions. To this aim, several areas on public international law have been analyzed: International Refugees Law, General Norms of International Human Rights Law (Complementary Protection Standards), the Legal Framework for the protection of Internal Displaced Persons - IDPs, UNFCCC, International instruments for the protection of stateless people.