Monday, April 28, 2025

Zhao on 'Climate-related migration practices from the Cancun Adaptation Framework to the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union treaty: Implications for the international legal regime'

 Dr Bob Zhao, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice, has co-written a new journal article titled 'Climate-related migration practices from the Cancun Adaptation Framework to the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union treaty: Implications for the international legal regime'.  The article appears in Volume 34(1) of Review of European, Comparative, and International Environmental Law.  Here is the abstract:

"As the detrimental impacts of climate change intensify, individuals vulnerable to climatic disasters have left their homelands and migrated across borders for a better life. With the growing global circulation of human populations, the subject of international climate-related migration has gained much attention from the international community. From the Cancun Adaptation Framework, first recognising the importance of climate-related migration, to the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union treaty further advancing international migration practices by achieving bilateral agreement between States, the issues of climate-related migration have presented novel and complex challenges to international law. These challenges to the current international legal regime include lacking a more synergistic international legal system, existing legal gaps in international human rights protection, affecting States' compliance with their international obligations and threatening the national sovereignty and maritime rights of migrant-sending countries. Given the interdisciplinary and cross-cutting nature of climate-related migration practices, holistic legal responses aimed to coordinate multiple international legal regimes, provide comprehensive legal solutions to fill the legal gaps in climate-related migration, guarantee effective legal measures of human rights protection and prioritise national security of migrant-sending countries, should be considered to address current issues and prepare for potential risks associated with climate-related migration."