As Biden Seeks Answers on Climate’s Impact on Migration, Sydney Declaration Provides Legal Ground Rules for Action

Feb 22, 2021 | Jane McAdam
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In an executive order earlier this month, President Joe Biden ordered a report into “climate change and its impact on migration, including forced migration, internal displacement, and planned relocation,” including “options for protection and resettlement of individuals displaced directly or indirectly from climate change.”

The order links some of the main challenges that he faces as president – the continued arrival of migrants and asylum seekers at the southern border, re-building the refugee program that the Trump administration dismantled, and addressing the far-reaching impacts of the climate crisis.

Already, millions of people are displaced each year by the impacts of disasters. In fact, three times as many people are displaced internally by disasters than by conflict. These numbers may well grow as disasters become more frequent and severe because of climate change.

Despite the scale of this displacement challenge, a huge amount of work has already been done to tackle it. Just as epidemiologists had been preparing for a pandemic, experts skilled in displacement, disasters, climate change, and development have long been working on their own action plan. In fact, five years ago, 109 governments – including the United States – embraced a blueprint to ensure that people displaced in the context of climate change and disasters were protected and empowered. It is called the Nansen Initiative’s Protection Agenda and its recommendations remain just as relevant today.

Building on this is another landmark document, the Sydney Declaration of Principles on the Protection of Persons Displaced in the context of Sea Level Rise, developed without fanfare by the International Law Association in 2018. In my role as co-rapporteur of the International Law Association’s Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise, I led the drafting of the Declaration.