Islanders Without an Island

As evidence of climate change continues to mount, international legal experts now debate liability. Climate-change law matters for the residents of low-lying island nations such as Tuvalu, in the southeast Pacific. If sea levels continue to rise at rates reported in recent years, Tuvalu country will go underwater in 50 years. International law is ill equipped to handle massive numbers of stateless refugees forced to flee the effects of global warming, reports Anwen Roberts for Der Spiegel. About 3,000 citizens of Tuvalu have already fled their island home. Neighboring countries such as Australia are reluctant about increased immigration, regardless of the reason. The Geneva Convention does not list climate change as a reason for asylum, and the UN Declaration of Human Rights does not guarantee a safe environment. The impacts of climate change are inescapably global, yet the international community and the large economies continue to evade responsibility and procrastinate on taking real action. – YaleGlobal