As North and Central America increasingly experience climate change and disasters (fires, hurricanes, drought, rising waters from the Great Lakes and Atlantic Ocean), the US has come to realize what our European colleagues have been experiencing as they have been at the forefront of the accelerating trend of global displacement related to climate change. The pre-covid years of 2015-2016 saw the highest peak of immigration into Europe. Last year President Biden signed an executive order 14013 “Rebuilding and Enhancing programs to resettle refugees and planning for the impact of climate change on migration”. With the release of the report, it was the first time the U.S. Government officially reported on the link between climate change and migration. While no nation offers asylum to climate migrants, the UN High Commission on Human Rights has published legal guidelines for offering protection to people displaced by the effects of global warming. Additionally, several of the 169 targets established by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) lay out general goals that could be used to protect climate migrants. The panel will be an informal discuss of how Europe’s experience with climate change and migrants can inform the United States.
The organizer and moderator of the Panel is Mary Rauktis, School of Social Work, University of Pittsburgh
The Panel members are:
Carla Malafaia, University of Porto, Portugal,
Cosmin Nada, University of Porto, Portugal,
Sheila Velez Martinez, School of Law, University of Pittsburgh