Jane McAdam - Climate Change, Forced Migration, and International Law

• Author: Liv Feijen
• Position: PhD candidate in international law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva. She is a UN staff member
• Pages: 61-64

Jane McAdam

Climate Change, Forced Migration, and International Law

Oxford University Press (2012) ISBN-10: 0199587086 ISBN-13: 978-0199587087

Liv Feijen*

I. Introduction

Recent years have been marked by a number of devastating natural disasters: the tsunami in Asia, hurricane Katrina in the

USA, earthquakes in Pakistan, Iran, Chile, Haiti, Japan, New Zealand and Italy - the list goes on. e natural disasters,

coupled with increasing concern for the impact of climate change and the depletion of natural resources, have contributed

to the international community placing forced displacement due to environmental factors on its agenda. As a result, a

number of issues have been raised by international and non-governmental organisations, scholars and, not the least, by the

populations who themselves may be aected by dierent aspects of climate change and environmental degradation.

In her new book, Jane McAdam1 provides an exhaustive overview of the myriad of literature and reports in this area. She goes

beyond other books on the subject by combining legal analysis with the results of her own empirical eldwork in Bangladesh,

Kiribati and Tuvalu. McAdam’s book touches upon a number of important issues: how forced migration relating to climate

change can be conceptualised; the relevance of the current protection schemes in providing legal solutions; the possibility of

adopting a treaty regulating this category of migrants; and the institutional governance of climate change related movement.

II. Denitions: What’s in a Label?

Although the book comprehensively addresses all conceivable angles of the subject matter, some comments can perhaps be

made as to the demarcations and approaches adopted. e rst matter, which is generally considered to be complex in this

eld, but also essential, is that of terminology and dening the scope of ratione personae. From the outset, McAdam focuses on

forced displacement and, while acknowledging the fact that dierent categories of persons could be forced to move because

of environmental disasters or climate, she chooses to use the term ‘climate change related’ throughout the book, which may

cover environmental degradation and sea level rise, but not necessarily natural disasters or other potential scenarios.

* Liv Feijen is a PhD candidate in international law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva. She is a UN sta

member. e views expressed in this article belong entirely to the author and do not necessarily reect those of the aliated organisation.

1 Jane McAdam is a Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales, Australia. McAdam is also an Australian Research Council Future Fellow

in the Faculty of Law and the Director of the International Refugee and Migration Law project at the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law.

Merkourios 2012 – Volume 28/Issue 75, Book Review, pp. 61-64.

URN:NBN:NL:UI:10-1-112858

ISSN: 0927-460X

URL: www.merkourios.org

Publisher: Igitur, Utrecht Publishing & Archiving Services

Copyright: this work has been licensed by the Creative Commons Attribution License (3.0)

Book Review

61Merkourios - International and European Migration Law - Vol. 28/75