Extending Refugee Definitions to Cover Environmentally Displaced Persons Displaces Necessary Protection

J.D. Candidate, The University of Iowa College of Law, 2009; B.A., Kansas State University, 2006. I would like to thank Robert and Diane Moberg for their dedication to my education and their endless love and support. Thank you to my friends and family who encouraged me with so much grace. Also, I thank the student writers and editors of the Iowa Law Review for their hard work.

I. Introduction

I hear the waves on our island shore

They sound much louder than they did before

A rising swellflecked with foam

Threatens the existence of our island home.1

One of the smallest and most remote nations in the world is becoming even smaller. Tuvalu is only twenty-six square kilometers of land, consisting of three islands and six atolls in the Pacific Ocean.2 In 1997, the first of Tuvalu's islands, Tepuka Savilivili, disappeared into the sea.3 Due to global warming and the corresponding rising sea levels, scientists predict that the nine remaining Tuvaluan islands will be completely submerged within the next fifty years, making Tuvalu the "first nation sunk by global warming."4Knowing that the demise of its homeland is inevitable, the Tuvalu government has, unsuccessfully, sought agreements with Australia and New Zealand that would allow Tuvaluans to migrate to Australia or New Zealand if an emergency evacuation is necessary.5 While neither the Tuvaluan government nor its citizens desire to seek refuge outside of their home nation, they recognize that they may not have a choice.6

Whereas Tuvalu's complete submersion is impending, the more imminent fear is that current weather conditions are menacing the current habitability of the islands.7 Tuvaluans depend on farming and fishing as their means of survival.8 The soil in Tuvalu, however, has become fragile, making farming difficult.9 Flooding, as well as an increase of salt in the soil, is causing the crops that Tuvaluans depend on to die.10 The storms in Tuvalu are increasingly ferocious, with flooding and high currents threatening to sweep Tuvaluans into the ocean.11 To escape the "onslaught of sea level rise" in Tuvalu, many Tuvaluans are already seeking ways to immigrate to foreign countries.12 Each year, seventy-five Tuvaluans may access New Zealand immigration status through employment immigration laws;13 however, Tuvalu has an estimated population of 12,177 people living on its islands.14

Tuvalu is just one example of the many countries that are losing inhabitable land. The effects of climate change prevent Arctic hunters from traveling over thinning ice and snow as they pursue bears and seals, their sources of nourishment and income.15 In the African Sahel, the warmer temperatures of climate change resulted in the death of millions of animals and hundreds of thousands of people.16 The expanding deserts in Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya consume more than one thousand square kilometers of valuable land each year.17

It is clear that climate change and environmental displacement due to such climate change is occurring.18 As the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Saufatu Sopoanga, stated at the Fifty-eighth Session of the U.N. General Assembly, "The threat [of severe weather events] is real and serious."19 The 0.7 degree increase in the average temperature of the Earth's surface since the late 1800s has already changed weather patterns, melted polar ice caps, heightened the spread of human diseases, and declined crop yields.20Already, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters have displaced twenty-five million people.21 Ten percent of the world's population currently lives on coastal lands that are less than ten meters above sea level; thus, rising sea levels will cause problems for hundreds of millions of people.22 Also, hundreds of millions of people depend on melting snow and glaciers to supply water for irrigation.23 As these sources deplete, many people face forced relocation.24 Due to the greenhouse gases already in our atmosphere, even without the emission of any additional greenhouse gases, the temperature will continue to increase beyond the year 2100, causing further depletion of our environment.25

Among all the reasons for migration, natural disasters are the leading cause of displacement.26 Hurricane Katrina alone resulted in the displacement of over half a million people within the United States.27 Two years after Hurricane Katrina, thousands of displaced victims remained unable to return to their homes in the Gulf Coast Region.28

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