Climate Change and Environmental Migration: A Case Study of Darfur, Sudan.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Climate change has become one of the most pressing global issues of our time, with its impact felt across the world, it poses a challenge to the law and to every aspect of our life. One of the consequences of climate change is environmental migration, where people are forced to leave their homes due to environmental factors such as droughts, famine, floods, and other extreme weather events. Extreme climatological occurrences can cause climate migrants to occur nationally (internal migration) or internationally (border-crossing asylum seekers and refugees). The issue of legal protection under international laws is a difficulty that climate migrants face. The term "refugee" affords protections based on a clear interpretation under the Geneva Refugee Convention of 1951, and only refugees are covered by international humanitarian law. Moreover, climate activists and scholars have argued that there is no consensus over the definition – and the legal treatment – of people forcibly displaced by climate change. The study focuses on the case of Darfur, a region in Sudan that has experienced significant environmental degradation and a rise in violence in recent years, which has been linked to climate change. The correlation between climate change and environmental migration is widely felt today in the debate on migration in the state of the art, particularly in Darfur, a key factor of climatological events due to drought and famine causing food insecurity with a significant number of humanitarian as well as environmental issues. The study examines the policy-making process at a general level, focusing on the strategies employed by policy-making actors such as governments, NGOs, activists, media, and international organisations in raising awareness and advocating for action on the issue of climate change and its impact on environmental migration in Darfur. The research question guiding this thesis is: to what extent policy-making actors both national from Darfur and international have played a role in defining the issue of climate change and environmental migration regarding Darfur? The study will also highlight the challenges faced by policy-making actors in addressing climate change and environmental migration in Darfur and how these challenges can be overcome to develop effective policies. The case of Darfur highlights the need for a comprehensive and coordinated approach to climate change and environmental migration, involving multiple stakeholders and addressing the underlying drivers of displacement. Ultimately, this research work argues for a more proactive and collaborative approach to policy-making that prioritises the protection and rights of those affected by environmental migration.