1. rights for environmental
refugees
The number of environmental refugees
around the world today is as high as 25
million, according to the International Red
Cross, and is increasing exponentially.
Environmental refugees are forced from
their homes by phenomena including large
dams, desertification, forest destruction,
and most recently, climate change. To date
there exist few mechanisms to accommodate
these people, who lose their livelihoods,
their cultures and their dignity when
forced from their homelands. T he concept
of human rights must be broadened in order
for new and evolving issues to be
recognized and protected, including the
phenomenon of climate refugees.
In China , the
Three Gorges Dam
will
ultimately displace nearly 2 million people
as its reservoir fills, and the land and
employment promised to the resulting
environmental refugees has not
materialized. Friends of the Earth
Australia is campaigning for the
recognition of the inhabitants of the
Pacific Island states
,
whose homelands face submergence with
increasing global climate change.
