THE ENVIRONMENTAL REFUGEES AS THE VICTIMS OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

9th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference - SGEM2009, www.sgem.org, SGEM2009 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN 10: 954-91818-1-2, June 14-19, 2009, Vol. 2, 615-622 pp

ABSTRACT

Nowadays the problem of global climate change is on the agenda of various disciplines
from natural sciences to social sciences, politics, law, security and etc. The subject is
dealt with from many different viewpoints and argued with different dimensions like
social, technical and global. However, the migration phenomenon, one of the
consequences of global climate change is perhaps the most important issue to dwell
upon. Because of the environmental pollution and natural disasters, the number of
immigrant increases day by day and the solution of the problem becomes gradually
difficult. Therefore, the problem should be examined from different perspectives. But
examining the problem from the perspective of security makes it more important. In this
context, this study aims to define the concept of environmental migration and tries to
explain what are prabable effects of environmental migration on the people that called
‘environmental refugees’ in literature; then analyzes environmental refugees’ legal
statutes.

Keywords: Global Climate Change, Migration, Environmental Migration,
Environmental Refugee, Environmental Security