Session 18.1

Alex de Sherbinin

BIO

Dr. de Sherbinin is a geographer whose research interests focus on the human aspects of global environmental change and geospatial data applications, integration, and dissemination. His research and teaching address climate-related mobility; climate vulnerability mapping; urban climate vulnerability; population dynamics and the environment; and composite environmental sustainability indicators. He has published 70 peer reviewed articles, 25 chapters in edited volumes, and authored or co-authored several books and major reports. He has managed projects under contract with NASA, the US Agency for International Development, The World Bank, UN Environment, UNDP’s Global Environmental facility, and multiple foundations. His personal web site has a full list of books, reports, and peer reviewed articles.

ABSTRACT

This talks presents research into "displaced livelihoods" in rural India, showing that circular migration is intensified following drought in many Indian states. This migration results in increased movement towards cities, where many migrants live in informal settlements. The second part of the talk presents a global analysis of climate impacts on low income neighborhoods in low income countries.

Dr. Rakesh Kumar

BIO

Dr. Rakesh Kumar is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Law, Teerthanker Mahaveer University, Moradabad, India. He holds a Ph.D. in Civil Society and Governance from the University of Delhi, M.Phil. in Law & Governance and M.A. in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. With over 16 years of academic experience across premier institutions including the University of Delhi, he has taught and supervised research in Political Science, Public Administration, and Governance Studies. His teaching and publications focus on human rights, constitutional governance, democratic participation, and civil society engagement in the Global South. Dr. Kumar has authored books and articles on governance, human security, and citizenship, and has presented at leading national and international conferences. His scholarship reflects a sustained commitment to democratic values, institutional reform, and interdisciplinary pedagogy.

ABSTRACT

Advocacy for Climate Migrants

The accelerating impacts of climate change are driving unprecedented human displacement. Rising sea levels, prolonged droughts, destructive floods, and extreme storms are forcing millions to leave their homes, producing “climate migrants” or “environmental refugees.” Yet, they remain largely unrecognized in global legal frameworks. The 1951 Refugee Convention, for example, does not cover displacement caused by environmental factors, leaving these communities without adequate legal, social, or economic protections.

The Need for Advocacy

Advocacy for climate migrants has emerged as both a moral and policy imperative. It requires a multi-track approach involving legal reform, institution building, civil society mobilization, and international cooperation. Crucially, it reframes climate displacement as an issue of justice: those most affected are in the Global South, regions least responsible for global emissions but most exposed to their consequences. Advocacy thus demands that states, international organizations, and private actors recognize shared responsibility in addressing climate change and its human fallout.

Key Dimensions of Advocacy

Legal recognition remains central. Existing refugee law, focused on political persecution, excludes environmental displacement, denying millions the right to asylum or international protection. Proposals include expanding current conventions or creating a dedicated treaty. Regional precedents like the Kampala Convention offer partial models, but broader integration into human rights law is vital.

National policy reform is equally critical. Countries like Bangladesh, India, and Pacific Island states often lack frameworks to safeguard displaced people. Advocacy pushes for inclusive social protection, dignified relocation, disaster risk reduction, and integration of migration into climate adaptation strategies, ensuring displacement is managed rather than chaotic.

Civil Society and Grassroots Role

Civil society and grassroots movements are pivotal in amplifying the voices of displaced communities. NGOs, activists, and community leaders bridge the gap between vulnerable groups and policymakers. By centering lived experiences, they counter stigmatizing narratives that portray migrants as burdens, reframing them as rights-bearing individuals with resilience and potential.

International Advocacy and Accountability

At the global level, advocacy connects climate migration to agendas such as the UNFCCC, the Global Compact for Migration, and the SDGs. Campaigners seek to mainstream displacement within financial mechanisms like the UNFCCC Loss and Damage Fund, ensuring resources reach the most affected. They also demand equitable responsibility-sharing, with high-emission nations bearing greater obligations for relocation and support.

Strategic litigation has emerged as a powerful advocacy tool, linking state inaction on climate change to human rights violations. Courts across regions are beginning to recognize climate displacement as a foreseeable outcome of neglect, setting important precedents in climate justice jurisprudence.

Research and Ethical Shifts

Academic and policy research strengthens advocacy by providing empirical evidence, dismantling misconceptions, and offering interdisciplinary insights. Ethically, advocacy challenges state-centered notions of rights, advancing a cosmopolitan framework where mobility is treated as a legitimate adaptation strategy. Central to this vision is empowering migrants—not as passive victims, but as active agents contributing to governance, policy, and community resilience.

Conclusion

Advocacy for climate migrants is future oriented. With projections of over 200 million displaced by 2050, today’s efforts shape tomorrow’s legal and policy frameworks. It balances immediate humanitarian needs with structural reforms, striving to make migration a dignified choice rather than an imposed survival strategy. Ultimately, it seeks recognition, protection, and justice, embedding climate migrants within the moral and institutional conscience of humanity. By situating their struggle at the intersection of human rights, climate justice, and global governance, advocacy reimagines a world where mobility, dignity, and justice are safeguarded for all.

Sasha Haddad

BIO

Sasha Haddad is a migrant justice organiser who has been heavily involved in corporate campaigning against the Border and Surveillance Industry (BSI), particularly against companies involved in immigration detention and deportation. In 2022, she co-founded the No Borders in Migrant Justice collective, wherein she created and facilitated workshops on ‘Why we need No Borders to achieve Climate Justice’ for groups in the climate movement. Since last year, she has been working with the Climate and Migrant Justice Organising Group, focusing on movement building and policy work on the intersection of climate and migrant justice.

ABSTRACT

My name is Sasha Haddad and I coordinate and convene the Climate and Migrant Justice Policy Working Group which forms a part of the wider Climate and Migrant Justice Organising Group. The Climate & Migrant Justice Organising Group (CMJ) was convened in April 2023 to strengthen the intersection of climate and migrant justice in the United Kingdom.

The CMJ maintains a cross-movement network of over 150 climate, migrant, racial and social justice groups - from grassroots and migrant-led groups through to national NGOs and networks, as well as policy and campaigning organisations.

We focus on 3 main pillars of organising:

Cross-Movement Building: Organising and Convening

To facilitate sustained connectivity, trust and solidarity between climate and migrant justice groups across the UK in a way that can counter the threat and pull of the far right, strengthening our cross-movement network to coordinate collaborative action, skill and resource-sharing.

Education and Communication

To coordinate and promote a justice-centered understanding of the connections between climate and migrant justice, building positive narratives around ‘climate-linked migration’.

Collaborative Action

To secure meaningful change and build long-term connectivity between climate and migrant groups through joint action and campaigns and shared targets.

As part of this work, we have recently convened a policy working group who will be focusing on developing shared policy demands on climate and migration for the UK context.

For this project we will be focusing on 4 key events:

• The COP30 summit which will take place in Belém, Brazil from 10-21 November 2025

• The 2026 United Kingdom local elections.

• The next Scottish Parliament election in Spring 2026

• The next Senedd (Welsh Parliament) election in Spring 2026.

Our goals in mobilising as a policy group focus upon the intersection of climate and migrant justice ahead of these pivotal events are as follows:

Creating a Policy Platform: Building solidarity by creating a policy platform (through educational resources and workshops) for furthering migrant justice policy within climate organisations and migrant justice organisations that seek to weave the climate crisis into their policy work (for instance by linking it to the Borders Bill).

Putting Climate and Migrant Justice on the Agenda: This work is ultimately about creating a strong progressive political alliance that can create pressure and localise these issues. As well as connecting with political figures, the intention is to create links with local climate / migrant justice groups who are already doing or have an interest in this work, particularly in the areas where key local and general elections will be held. For instance, key ‘hot spots’ tangibly impacted by the climate crisis include areas such as Norfolk (where there are impending local elections) and Wales (where towns are already facing the consequence of the climate crisis).

Supporting Policymakers and Politicians to Adopt the Agenda: By raising awareness of climate mobility - and, by proxy, the importance of climate and migrant justice - amongst policymakers and politicians, we will be in a strong position to bolster support for the implementation of this agenda into their policy demands and decision making.

We are currently working on a list of shared policy demands. The framework for the demands is as follows:

• Recognising migration as a form of climate adaptation, and avoiding the use of the “hostile environment” and harsher border policies in response to humanitarian emergencies

• Committing to supporting both the right to stay and the right to move, both at home and overseas; through providing resources for communities to manage climate impacts, through providing safe pathways to at-risk communities, and through immediate support in emergencies.

• Working within existing international processes and frameworks on climate and displacement to ensure that all nations play their part – especially the largest polluters.

• Commit to a fair and equitable phase out of fossil fuels.

• Including the voices of migrants, refugees, and communities facing internal displacement within the UK in the development of national action plans on climate change.

If invited to speak at this conference, we would love to share the work that we are doing in the UK on the intersection of climate and migrant justice and also learn from others doing similar work in other contexts. From our work, we can speak on the topics of building national capacities to support climate migrants, promoting developed country responsibility, networking across donor agencies and NGOs and advocacy for climate migrants.