Article on Webinar “Climate and Migration”
The increasing number of people being compelled to migrate due to the climate crisis indicates that the state of our planet is deteriorating. The climate crisis is causing numerous natural disasters that ultimately force affected individuals to leave their homeland. The International Migrants Alliance organized a webinar on “Climate and Migration” to respond to this situation. The purpose of the webinar is to deepen the understanding of the IMA members regarding climate change and its relation to migration, false solutions that are offered by capitalists, and what we can do to address the climate crisis and support the call for climate justice.
The webinar was held on December 9, 2023, at 22:00 Malaysian time, and was attended by approximately 40 members and non-members of IMA. The webinar was also streamed live on Facebook, reaching over 100 profiles. The speakers invited by IMA were Emma Jackson from Canada and David Arboleda, a Colombian migrant currently based in Chile.
Emma is a climate justice organizer with a global organization, 350.org. Emma explained that every year, 25.3 million people are displaced due to climate-related disasters, and the majority of them are the least contributors to environmental damage. The internal displacements are driving more and more people to migrate domestically and internationally. What's even worse is that developed countries are using the climate crisis as an excuse to restrict access for migrants, further creating a migrant labor force that is disposable to them. Emma showed that big corporations and the rich 1% are the main contributors to global warming. Yet, these leaders of capitalism offer false solutions such as “green” industries that actually facilitate the land grabbing of indigenous lands to establish things like solar farms, and the exploitation of miners who mine the materials needed for things like solar panels. Emma emphasized that the climate crisis is a global issue; therefore, the necessary solutions should involve an internationalist anti-imperialist solidarity movement, focused on rights and freedoms and righting historical wrongs, and that is based in collective organizing and action by the people, rather than solely focusing on the national level. In addition, Emma noted that the climate crisis cannot be solved without opposing imperialism and the crises that it brings about.
David Arboleda, a climate activist from Coordinadora Nacional de Inmigrantes Chile, stated that the climate crisis makes many already vulnerable groups in society, such as the elderly, indigenous communities, farmers, people with disabilities, and others, even more vulnerable. They are the ones who bear the consequences of environmental and social debts caused by capitalists from the Global North. When people who are affected by climate disasters leave their countries, they are not recognized as "refugees". This is because, according to the 1951 Convention regarding the Status of Refugees, no statement says that environmental factors can be a valid criterion for determining someone's refugee status. This makes it difficult for climate refugees to obtain visas and the necessary assistance they might need when they are fleeing a legitimate threat to their life. Therefore, David emphasized the importance of recognizing the status of “climate refugees” who are displaced due to the climate crisis and climate racism as a principal problem of the climate crisis. David uses the example of the Darién Gap to show the neglect and abandonment that climate refugees experience from the government and the level of abuse, disappearances, trafficking, death, and rape of women that they experience. David concluded by saying that the issue of climate justice is inextricably linked to the migrants rights movement and that migrants along with climate refugees must demand regularization for all, dignity, safe transit between borders, and the elimination of unequal treatment of historically excluded groups.
The webinar was closed after a rich open forum discussion among IMA members and the speakers. The discussion was followed by group photos that showed IMA’s with migrants and refugees who are affected by climate disasters and resistance to capitalism and its policies. The participants chanted together:
People and Planet over Profit and Plunder!
People and Planet over Profit and Plunder!
People and Planet over Profit and Plunder!
