Reconceptualizing the Climate 'Refugee' in International Law: Prioritising an Ecofeminist and Decolonial Paradigm

重新概念化国际法中的气候“难民”：优先考虑生态女性主义和非殖民主义范式

• 批准号: 2893593
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Nottingham Trent University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2893593
• 关键词: Reconceptualizing; Climate; Refugee; International; Law

My research project critically explores the gap in international law addressing the protection of climate'refugees', those forced to flee their homelands because of climate change impacts, with the aim ofoffering an alternative legal paradigm to grapple with future cross-border climate induced mobility. Since2008, an annual average of 22.5 million people has been forcibly displaced by climate related events(GRID 2018; UNHCR 2020). Without proper action, these figures are estimated to rise, with more than 1billion people potentially displaced internationally by 2050 due to climatic factors (IEP, 2020) and at least216 million people internally displaced across six regions (World Bank Groundswell Report, 2021).Despite this catastrophic scenario, States continue to miss international climate targets, as reiterated byCOP27. Moreover, while extensive literature acknowledges the urgency of finding legal responses(Atapattu, 2015; McAdam, 2012; Gemenne 2018), the current international legal framework remains illequippedto provide protection for climate 'refugees'. International legal institutions have failed toprovide a satisfactory response to date (UNHRC, Teitiota v. New Zealand, 2020) and national migrationpolicies continue to overlook climate change as a migration driver (McLeman, 2020).7 / 23My research argues that the heart of the problem is embedded in the way the climate-mobility nexus isunderstood, conceptualized and addressed under current international law. This reflects a 'coloniality ofknowledge' (Mignolo, 2000), as the epistemological foundations of migration and climate change legalstudies universalize a Eurocentric vision (Woldemariam, 2019; Collins; 2022, Sultana, 2022), andgenerate an epistemic hierarchy (Adelman, 2015).My approach builds on the need for 'new normative narratives based on more expansive sources ofknowledge'(McLeman, 2014), as concepts such as sovereignty, borders, post-facto orientation, binarythinking dividing migrant/refugees, human/nature, vulnerability/adaptation perpetuate a Westernparadigm that hinders a holistic response to climate displacement. Thus, my research responds to thenecessity to reconceptualize the climate change-human mobility nexus by adopting decolonialperspectives (Sultana, 2022), and drawing on ecofeminist theories (Fineman, 2014; Harris, 2015; Shiva2014) to provide an alternative legal paradigm, suitable to resolve future climate displacement.Therefore, my research questions are:What are the obstacles within the current international legal framework leaving climate 'refugees' in alegal impasse?How can prioritising ecofeminist and decolonial perspectives benefit a reconceptualization of the climatemobilitynexus?Which concepts from ecofeminism and decolonial perspectives can inform the epistemologicalfoundation of climate and refugee law? How can they be incorporated?I adopt a doctrinal research method with a particular emphasis on indigenous literature (Suliman, 2019;Whyte, 2019) and epistemologies of the South, as they seek to overcome ethical, economic andepistemological limits of Western knowledge in solving climate-related issues (Shiva, 2014). By valuingplural epistemologies to reframe the climate 'refugee', the originality of my research intends to challengethe dominant Eurocentric approach in analysing climate displacement and propose new ways forward totimely respond to the issue. My findings will be shared at international and regional (European) level, bycollaborating with the International Organization for Migration and EU Agency for Asylum to inform andinfluence the policy agenda.

我的研究项目批判性地探讨了国际法在保护气候“难民”（即那些因气候变化影响而被迫逃离家园的人）方面的差距，旨在提供一种替代的法律范式，以应对未来跨境气候引起的流动性。自 2008 年以来，平均每年有 2250 万人因气候相关事件而被迫流离失所（GRID 2018；UNHCR 2020）。如果不采取适当行动，这些数字预计还会上升，到 2050 年，由于气候因素，可能有超过 10 亿人在国际上流离失所（IEP，2020 年），六个地区至少有 2.16 亿人在国内流离失所（世界银行风潮报告，2021 年）。在这种灾难性的情况下，各国仍然未能实现 COP27 所重申的国际气候目标。此外，虽然大量文献承认寻找法律应对措施的紧迫性（Atapattu，2015；McAdam，2012；Gemenne，2018），但当前的国际法律框架仍然不足以为气候“难民”提供保护。迄今为止，国际法律机构未能提供令人满意的回应（UNHRC，Teitiota v. New Zealand，2020），国家移民政策继续忽视气候变化作为移民驱动因素（McLeman，2020）。7 / 23我的研究认为，问题根源在于现行国际法对气候与流动性关系的理解、概念化和处理方式。这反映了“知识的殖民性”（Mignolo，2000），因为移民和气候变化法律研究的认识论基础普遍化了欧洲中心主义的愿景（Woldemariam，2019；Collins；2022，Sultana，2022），并产生了认知层次结构（Adelman，2015） .我的方法建立在“基于新规范叙述的需要”之上更广泛的知识来源”（McLeman，2014），因为主权、边界、事后导向、移民/难民、人类/自然、脆弱性/适应等二元思维等概念延续了西方范式，阻碍了对气候流离失所的整体应对。因此，我的研究通过采用去殖民视角（Sultana，2022）并借鉴生态女性主义理论（Fineman，2014；Harris，2015；Shiva2014）来回应重新概念化气候变化与人类流动关系的必要性，以提供一种适合的替代法律范式因此，我的研究问题是：当前国际法律框架内存在哪些障碍？气候“难民”陷入法律僵局？优先考虑生态女性主义和非殖民主义观点如何有利于气候流动关系的重新概念化？生态女性主义和非殖民主义观点的哪些概念可以为气候和难民法的认识论基础提供信息？如何将它们纳入其中？我采用了一种理论研究方法，特别强调土著文献（Suliman，2019；Whyte，2019）和南方认识论，因为他们寻求克服西方知识在解决气候问题时的伦理、经济和认识论限制相关问题（Shiva，2014）。通过重视多元认识论来重新定义气候“难民”，我的研究的独创性旨在挑战分析气候位移时占主导地位的欧洲中心主义方法，并提出及时应对这一问题的新方法。我的研究结果将通过与国际移民组织和欧盟庇护机构合作，在国际和区域（欧洲）层面上分享，以告知和影响政策议程。