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By Ama Ruth Francis

This white paper uses the Caribbean as a case study to demonstrate the utility of Free Movement Agreements in providing a protection framework for climate-induced migration in the absence of a governing multilateral framework and guaranteed rights. This white paper also presents an opportunity to consider climate-induced migration in a Caribbean context, whereas most research on human mobility and climate change in relation to SIDS has focused on the Pacific. 

Read the report FMAs & Climate-Induced Migration in Columbia Law School's Scholarship Archive.

By Phillip Dane Warren

Note: Climate change represents, perhaps, the greatest challenge of the twenty-first century. As temperatures and sea levels rise, governments around the world will face massive and unprecedented human displacement that international law currently has no mechanism to address. While estimates vary, the scope of the migration crisis that the world will face in the coming decades is startling. In addition to losing their homes, climate change migrants, under current law, will encounter a refugee system governed by a decades-old Refugee Convention that offers neither protection nor the right to resettle in a more habitable place. Armed with the most recent developments in international climate change law following the December 2015 Paris climate conference (COP21), this Note considers which of the existing bodies in the United Nations is best equipped to address forced migration caused by climate change. Inspired by the negotiations leading up to the Paris Conference, this Note advocates for a Climate Change Displacement Coordination Facility, housed within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to protect the rights of displaced persons. Finally, this Note maps out an institutional architecture and a long-term vision for a Displacement Coordination Facility. As opposed to an amendment of the 1951 Refugee Convention or a new rights-based treaty for climate migration, a Facility housed within the UNFCCC provides the greatest possible flexibility, autonomy, and cultural retention for climate change migrants while still protecting their essential human rights.

By Anne Siders

This report compiles and examines case studies from across the United States where communities have already implemented managed retreat to protect against future disasters. By cataloging potential tools and illustrating the practical situations in which managed retreat has been used, this handbook hopes to provide policy makers with better information on the pros and cons of managed retreat.

Read the report Managed Coastal Retreat: A Legal Handbook on Shifting Development Away from Vulnerable Areas in Columbia Law School's Scholarship Archive.

By Michael B. Gerrard, Gregory E. Wannier (Co-Editors)

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Note: Description Contents Resources Courses About the Authors Rising seas are endangering the habitability and very existence of several small island nations, mostly in the Pacific and Indian oceans. This is the first book to focus on the myriad legal issues posed by this tragic situation: If a nation is under water, is it still a state? Does it still have a seat at the United Nations? What becomes of its exclusive economic zone, the basis for its fishing rights? What obligations do other nations have to take in the displaced populations, and what are these peoples' rights and legal status once they arrive? Should there be a new international agreement on climate-displaced populations? Do these nations and their citizens have any legal recourse for compensation? Are there any courts that will hear their claims, and based on what theories? Leading legal scholars from around the world address these novel questions and propose answers. Cambridge University Press

By Jessica Wentz

Read the report Assisted Migration: A Viable Conservation Strategy to Preserve the Biodiversity of Threatened Island Nations? in Columbia Law School's Scholarship Archive.