POLICY BRIEF: Climate Change, Mobility and Human Rights: ‘Slow onset’ environmental change and displacement in the Mekong Region

Download the policy brief here.

Visit the event resources for “Climate Change, Mobility and Human Rights” held on 24 November 2022 here.

Authors: Carl Middleton, Clare Steiner and Aran Van Rysselberge

Summary: This policy brief examines the connections between climate change, peoples’ mobility and human rights in the Mekong Region. A particular focus is on the slow-environmental change dimensions of climate change, such as sea level rise and changing seasonal weather patterns, that are shaping peoples’ mobility in less recognized ways. Slow-onset processes introduce significant complexity, given that any decision to migrate intersects with preexisting conditions and other ongoing economic and social development trends. The seeming lack of consensus on how to define and understand this form of ‘environmental migration’ has implications for law and policy, as well as responses on-the-ground.  However, a human rights-based approach is emerging that connects together climate change, mobility and human rights.