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WELCOME TO THE PENINSULA PRINCIPLES ON 7 CLIMATE DISPLACEMENT WITHIN STATES!
Displacement Solutions believes that the time for concerted action to prevent and resolve climate displacement is upon us, and has been for some time. In Bangladesh, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Panama, the US state of Alaska, Myanmar, Vietnam, Tuvalu and beyond, millions of people are facing and experiencing displacement as a result of climate change. DS has seen the human face of climate displacement up close in more than a dozen such countries, and our work to draw attention to the plight of the growing number of individuals, households or communities under threat has – out of necessity – expanded considerably since we began working on these issues in 2007.
Our work in the frontline states affected by climate displacement has revealed to us time and time again that research carried out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, the Stern Review, and many other studies on the effects of climate change – including rising sea levels, heavier floods, more frequent and severe storms, drought, and desertification – will cause large-scale population movements, if anything, are often too future-focused, for climate displacement is already happening today. The relatively new form of displacement presents an urgent problem and challenging conundrum for affected communities, governments and the broader international community.
With a view to assisting these groups to better address the climate displacement dilemmas facing them, Displacement Solutions has dedicated most of the past two years building the foundations for a new normative framework to address climate displacement within States. DS has spent countless hours reviewing the climate displacement literature; examining virtually all policy and legal documents dealing with climate displacement; travelling throughout the world to meet with government officials, academics, communities and those working in the field; and attending and presenting at climate-displacement seminars and conferences. A solid six-month period was then spent drafting, re-drafting and re-drafting again and again (there were some 30 pre-final drafts of what became the new standard) and seeking expert inputs into the text. We placed an advanced text on the DS website and asked the public for comments, many useful ones of which were received from people from all corners of the planet.
Then, in mid-August 2013, representatives from Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Egypt, Tunisia and the United States came together in Red Hill, Victoria, Australia, and shared their backgrounds and expertise in international law, human rights and refugee law, forced migration, environmental change and United Nations policy creation to strengthen, stand behind and approve what became the Peninsula Principles on Climate Displacement Within States (the ‘Principles’), which we believe is the first formal policy document of its kind in the world.
The Principles provide a comprehensive normative framework, based on principles of international law, human rights obligations and good practice, within which the rights of climate displaced persons within States can be addressed. The Principles set out protection and assistance provisions, consistent with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (upon which they build and contextualise), to be applied to climate displaced persons.
THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE PRINCIPLES INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:
• While climate displacement can involve both internal and cross-border displacement, most displacement will likely occur within State borders;
• Climate displaced persons have a right to remain in their homes and retain connections to the land on which they live for as long as possible;
• Those who may be displaced have a right to move safely and to relocate within their national borders over time;
• Climate displacement, if not properly planned for and managed, may give rise to tensions and instability within States;
• Because climate change is a global problem, States should (upon request by affected States), provide adequate and appropriate support for mitigation, adaptation, relocation and protection measures, and provide assistance to climate displaced persons;
• The international community has humanitarian, social, cultural, financial and security interests in addressing the problem of climate displacement in a timely, coordinated and targeted manner;
• There has been no significant coordinated response by States to address climate displacement, whether temporary or permanent in nature;
• Neither the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) nor its Kyoto Protocol neither contemplate nor address the issue of climate displacement; and
• There is a need for a globally applicable normative framework to provide a coherent and principled approach for the collaborative provision of pre-emptive assistance to those who may be displaced by the effects of climate change, as well as remedial assistance to those who have been so displaced, and legal protections for both.
The Principles are divided into four operative parts: (a) general obligations; (b) climate displacement preparation and planning; (c) displacement; and (d) post-displacement matters:
General obligations include those pertaining to the prevention and avoidance of conditions that might lead to climate displacement; provision of adaptation assistance and protection measures; national implementation measures; and international cooperation and assistance.
Climate displacement preparation and planning includes climate displacement risk management; participation by and consent from affected individuals, households and communities regarding such preparation and planning; land identification, habitability and use; development of laws and policies for loss suffered and damage incurred in the context of climate displacement; and development and strengthening institutional frameworks to support and facilitate the provision of assistance and protection.
Displacement comprises state-based assistance to those climate displaced persons experiencing displacement but who have not been relocated, together with housing and livelihood matters and remedies and compensation.
Post-displacement and return sets out a framework for the process of return in the event that displacement is temporary and return to homes, lands or places of habitual residence is possible.
NOW, LET’S APPLY THEM!
The Principles can now be practically applied in efforts designed to improve the prospects for climate displaced persons, households and communities. They set out a framework for the collaborative provision of pre-emptive adaptation assistance, preparation and planning – and, if necessary, relocation, together with post-displacement matters and possible return to homes – and before islands and coastlines are under water, before global warming worsens, and before glaciers melt and retreat even further than they already have.
DS is ready to work with governments, international organisations and threatened communities to assist in applying the Peninsula Principles to concrete situations where people are already facing or experiencing climate displacement. We urge all relevant actors who can make a positive difference to the lives of real or future climate displaced people to do so, for so much remains to be done; so very much.
Importantly, the Principles take the correct view that communities are expected to play a fundamental role in organising themselves and outlining their future needs with regard to any looming – or ever-present – climate displacement threat. Communities need to organize themselves, come forward with their claims, and outline what the corresponding obligations of States are, based within existing human rights laws, to protect and respect the rights of those affected by climate displacement.
We know with increasing precision where climate displacement is already taking place or will take place, who and how many people are likely to be affected, and at least some of the – often land-based – solutions required to prevent and repair climate displacement. We now, thus, find ourselves at a juncture between theory and reality, between what could be and what clearly is. The Principles provide everyone concerned about the rights of climate displaced persons, households and communities with a clear and consistent soft law basis for the practical actions required to do.
We, therefore, call upon all international agencies, governments (both national and local), communities, climate justice advocates and ordinary citizens to look carefully at the prospect of climate displacement wherever you live or work and try to apply the Principles as part of an effective strategy to treat climate displaced persons, households and communities as the rights-holders that they so clearly are.
Let us all work together towards this realistic and worthy objective, for together we can protect the rights of climate displaced persons and resolve climate displacement the world over.
Scott Leckie,
Director and Founder – Displacement Solutions