Activities and Events — Announcements — Center for Social Development Studies

Climate Change, Mobility and Human Rights: ‘Slow-onset’ Environmental Change and Displacement in the Mekong Region

24 November 2022, Online (broadcast on CSDS Facebook page; participate via Zoom with registration) and in-person at Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Co-organizers: Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), Chulalongkorn University; Chulalongkorn University UNESCO Chair in Resource Governance and Futures Literacy; Raoul Wallenberg Institute Regional Asia Pacific Office; and Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights

Please download the final agenda with speakers here.

Please register to join the event here.

The connection between climate change and peoples’ mobility is increasingly recognized in academic and policy circles, and popular media. Most visible are the impacts of disasterous events such as flooding on forced displacement, but slow onset environmental changes such as sea level rise and changing seasonal weather patterns are nowadays also crucial in shaping human mobility (or ‘environmental migration’) in various ways. In slow-onset processes, the changing climate intersects with other ongoing economic and social development activities and their associated environmental impacts which influence situations of vulnerability, for example the construction of large hydropower dams. As a result, there is significant debate on how to understand the relationship between pre-existing conditions, slow-onset climate change and human mobility. This lack of consensus has implications for law and policy, as well as responses on-the-ground.

Climate change poses threats to human rights, including the right to life, the right to health, the right to shelter, and the right to food, and many others amplifying the impacts of structural inequalities and injustices. There is a growing recognition within human rights literature, international and national law, and among practitioners, of the connection between environmental change including climate change, mobility and human rights. These studies are now establishing a framework for determining the duties of states, and the entitlements of rights-holders. Governments in mainland Southeast Asia are increasingly making commitments and policies on climate change mitigation and adaptation, yet human mobility due to ‘slow-onset’ climate change seems to be less acknowledged and addressed.

This full day hybrid public seminar will address the following questions, with a focus on mainland Southeast Asia.

How are climate change, people’s mobility and human rights connected?
What is the experience on the ground?
Is current law and policy adequate to address emerging vulnerabilities, especially regarding ‘slow onset’ environmental change?
What are the actionable polices and on-the-ground approaches to protect and promote human rights?
What are the implications for ‘loss and damage’ claims and climate justice?

For enquiries, please contact Dr. Carl Middleton.