By Michael B. Gerrard
The Paris Agreement requested the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage "to develop recommendations for integrated approaches to avert, minimize, and address displacement related to the adverse impacts of climate change." However, nothing in this agreement addresses the crucial question of which countries will take in the very large number of people who will be displaced.
Paris also saw a strengthening of the temperature goal - the maximum tolerable increase in global average temperatures. It became "well below" 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, with a goal "to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees."
Regrettably, the Paris conference did not lead to agreements that will in fact achieve that abojective.
This article explains why the international pledges submitted for the Paris Agreement are not enough to avoid serious impacts on people and communities - specifically, impacts leading to the displacement of millions of people from their home.
Read the article Sadly, The Paris Agreement Isn't Nearly Enough in Columbia Law School's Scholarship Archive.