CHAPTER - 1

INTRODUCTION

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them
without doing anything”.1

- Albert Einstein2

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Climate change3 is a defining challenge of this century and unfortunately the pace at
which the “business-as-usual” continues, it will haunt for centuries to come. “Climate
change induced natural disasters” have become regular occurrences. Surprisingly, in 2019
the Forbes magazine in its website made reference to list of fifteen such disasters that
caused damage of a billion U.S. dollar at least in each specific case and in seven out of
such fifteen cases the loss was estimated to over ten billion dollars each.4 This list is an
improvement from the last year’s list where only ten such events with damage of at least

1
Available at: https://www.goalcast.com/2017/03/29/top-30-most-inspiring-albert-einstein-
quotes/amp/#referrer=https://www.google.com (last visited on August 28, 2025).
2
Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879 – April 18, 1955) was a genius and Noble prize winner (received in 1921)
theoretical physicist. He is credited with development over dozens of physics theories which are considered
the pillars in the applied sciences. He has been granted over 50 patents for his scientific design.
3
Intergovernmental panel on climate change (hereinafter IPCC) define climate change as,” climate change
refers to any change over the time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity.” This
usage differs from that in United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (hereinafter
UNFCCC), which defines climate change as, “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly
to human activity that alters the composition of global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural
climate variability observed over comparable time periods.” The difference between two definitions lies in
the causative factor for climate change. The IPCC keeps the possibility of natural variable causing climate
change alive in its study.
4
Eric Mack, “In 2019 Climate Change Made These 15 Natural Disasters Even Worse” Forbes, December
27, 2019, available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2019/12/27/climate-change-drove-the-price-
tag-for-15-disasters-over-a-billion-dollars-each/#749df8c97844 (last visited on September 1, 2025).

1
one billion U.S. dollar each were registered. The list ranged from California Wildfire5 to
Cyclone Idai6. This list does not include the Australian wildfire7 which happened in late
2019 and continued in early 2020. The estimates of the damage include mostly thee loss
of property, life and agriculture (the loss that can be estimated in monetary terms and that
matter the most to the humans). It does not include the loss caused to the environment per
se.
It is very important to note that there is difference between climate change-induced
natural disasters and geo-physical disasters at the beginning of the research study.
Geophysical disasters are defined as events originating from solid Earth and are classified
as: Earthquakes, Volcanic Eruption and dry mass movements (rock fall, avalanche,
landslide, subsidence), on the other hand climate induced natural disasters like drought,
heat waves, floods, storms and wildfire are disasters which are not related to processes
within the Earth but are directly or indirectly related to changes in climate8. Apart from
the natural disasters, there are manmade disasters in the causation of which man has
direct hand (like unplanned urbanization, nuclear explosions/tests) and include
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and floods. What differentiates natural and manmade
disasters is the element of human acts or omissions that causal elements to human
sufferings and environment damages. Whether natural or manmade, all types of disasters

5
Ibid. California, The Golden State of United States of America (hereinafter U.S.A.) registered twelve
active fires (areas ranging from 1300 acres to 76000 acres) in this incident in late October 2019. The
estimated loss is twenty-five billion U.S. Dollars.
6
Cyclone Idai was category 2 Storm that covered majority of coastal Africa and Madagascar, occurred in
March 2019. It took over 600 lives and caused damage worth two billion U.S. dollars, displaced 100,000
people, over 2.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. United Nations Children’s Fund
(hereinafter UNICEF), Cyclone Idai and Kenneth caused devastation and suffering in Mozambique,
available at: https://www.unicef.org/mozambique/en/cyclone-idai-and-kenneth (last visited on January 1,
2020).
7
With 33 people (including four firefighters) killed and 27.2 million acres of bushes, forest and parks
burned, this individual event was the result of record-breaking temperatures and severe droughts conditions
that ensued in previous months. This does not include the loss of habitats of Kangaroos and Koalas and the
harm to be caused due to release of stored carbon in form of carbon dioxide (a major greenhouse gas).
“Australia Fires: A Visual Guide to the Bushfire Crisis” BBC News, January 31, 2020, available at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50951043 (last visited on January 31, 2020).
8
Natural disasters are classified as geophysical (earthquakes, volcanoes, sink holes), hydro-meteorological
(tsunami, tropical cyclones, floods, blizzards, droughts), climatological (heat waves) and biological
(epidemics). Apart from geophysical disasters, rest types of disasters are directly or indirectly related to
climate change. So, they are clubbed under one head climate induced natural disasters, for convenience.

2
have capability to cause the long-term damage to country’s economy and productive
capacity and ultimately affecting its capacity to protect its people and environment.
Solid scientific consensus exists on the drivers of current climate change. IPCC9, which
provides recent climate science findings, is considered most authoritative source for
policy-relevant (not policy-prescriptive) reports. The Fifth Assessment Report
(hereinafter AR5) of IPCC stated,
“It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed
warming since the 20th century”10.

Key scientific findings of the report11 for the policy makers are as follows:

• 95% of contribution to global warming is by human activities over the period of

last 50 years. The recorded concentration of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere over
the period of last 150 parts per million has increased from 280 parts per million to 412
parts per million.
• The levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are “unprecedented”, not seen in
at least last 800,000 years.
• Rise in sea levels is two times faster than the level of rise noticed in last 40 years.
• The last two decades witnessed the ice sheets melting and receding of glaciers in
most part of the world, especially in Greenland and Antarctica.

The human hand behind climate change and its future impact is well recognized. For this
reason, it is not an exaggeration to refer the climate change as “anthropogenic climate

9
IPCC was created in 1988 by the joint action of United Nations Environment Programme (hereinafter
UNEP) and World Meteorological Organization (hereinafter WMO). Its global reach could be assessed
because of its endorsement by United Nations General Assembly (hereinafter UNGA) in the same year. It
has 195 members. It is entrusted with the main task of informing the policy makers about the scientific
assessments on climate change, its impacts and actions needed through its reports. It publishes assessment
reports and special reports to fill the research gaps in scientific study. IPCC is neutral body that is why it is
most cited document in climate change studies.
10
IPCC, Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis, Working Group I Contribution to the Fifth
Assessment Report of IPCC (2013), available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-
report/ar5/wg1/WG1AR5_Frontmatter_FINAL.pdf (last visited on Aug 22, 2025).
11
IPCC, Summary for Policymakers, Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis (2013), available
at: https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WG1AR5_SPM_FINAL.pdf (last visited on Aug 22,
2025).

3
change”. AR5 also acknowledges the fact since the advent of Industrial Revolution12
human activity has contributed to a rapid increase in the speed and scope of
deglaciation13 globally.14 These are not new findings of 21st century. Since 1990s, the
reality that human beings by their own action are rapidly and radically modifying the
climate to which all human and all other species on this planet have to adapt is well
documented in various IPCC reports and other individual scientific study. The “primary
forcing factor” for the climate change was infusion of carbon dioxide released from the
combustion of fossil fuels, i.e., coal, oil and gas (carbon-based). The underground
unburned fossils and trees are safest storage of carbon. It is like a devil resting for
millennia without harming a soul. But now the devil has woken up.
Fossil fuels are needed to obtain energy and energy has become the foundation for
sustaining any remotely modern form of life. Fossil fuels are most preferred because
currently they are the cheapest source. This use of fossil fuels, on such an expansive
scale, has created climate change crisis.15 While the humanity is still busy figuring about
controlling the carbon dioxide, the studies16 discovered mixture of greenhouse gases17
(hereinafter GHGs) like Methane, Nitrous Oxide, Sulphur, Chlorofluorocarbons

12
In midst of 18th century, first industrial revolution began in England. It refers to the beginning of factory
system phase wherein factories became center of production. It revolutionized the production of goods
along with new technological innovations and improvements.
13
Deglaciation refers to the transition from full glacial conditions during ice ages to warm interglacial
periods, characterized by global warming and sea rise due to change in continental ice volume. The last
known glacial maximum period ended around 21,000 years ago. Then the deglaciation phase began which
lasted until early Holocene (11,700 years ago). Since then ice sheets have been retreating on global scale
and Earth has been experiencing a relatively warm interglacial period marked by only high-altitude alpine
glaciers at most latitudes with larger ice sheet and sea ice at the poles. However, since the onset of the
Industrial Revolution, human activity has contributed to a rapid increase in the speed and scope of
deglaciation globally.
14
Supra note 11.
15
Shalini Marwaha and Samni Singla, “Should Gender Justice be Part of Climate Justice?” 56(2) Panjab
University Law Review 2-3 (2017).
16
IPCC, Climate Change 1990: The IPCC Scientific Assessment (1990), available at:
https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/03/ipcc_far_wg_I_full_report.pdf (last visited on Aug 2,
2025).
17
The term “greenhouse gases” has been taken to represent the naturally occurring greenhouse effect. This
effect is defined as a process by which the gases in Earth’s atmosphere capture the Sun’s net radiation
(incoming-outgoing) reaching Earth to allow enough warming for life to exist. But the greenhouse gases by
stopping outgoing radiations from Earth have warmed the global temperature which can be very harmful
for life on Earth.

4
(hereinafter CFCs) are responsible for climate change. These gases have long lives and
stay up in atmosphere for longer periods. These gases are used and emitted by humans in
variety of activities. Thus, the need felt to take some concrete steps especially in
controlling human activity.
Efforts have been made to combat climate change beginning in 1972. The most recent
and deemed conclusive effort is reflected in form of Paris Climate Change Agreement of
201518. This agreement aims at intensifying the efforts in combating climate change
through mitigation and adaptation measures. The Agreement creates an ambitious
framework for action, including a strong reporting mechanism and requires periodic
global stock take. With its near universal support, it is deemed to be remarkable
multilateral achievement.

The main aim mentioned in the agreement for the party countries to the convention is as
follows:
“Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-
industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above
pre-industrial levels”19
Today climate change is not only a scientific problem but a major ethical and political
problem. Its effects encompass the concepts of justice, particularly environmental
justice20 and social justice21, equality, human rights, collective rights and distributional

18
The Paris Climate Agreement is an agreement within the United Nation Framework convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with GHG emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance adopted by
consensus on 12 December, 2015. As of June 2020, of 197 UNFCCC members, 189 have ratified the
agreement
19
Conference of the Parties, UNFCC, Report of the Conference of the Parties on its twenty-first session held
in Paris from 30 November to 13 December 2015-Addendum-Part two: Action taken by the Conference of
the Parties at its twenty-first session, UN Doc FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1 (January 29, 2016),
available at: http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/10a01.pdf (last visited on Sep 1, 2025).
20
Environment justice emerged as a concept in the United States in the early 1980s. the term has two
distinct uses: the first and most common usage describes a social movement that focuses on the fair
distribution of environment benefits and burdens regardless of race, color, national origin or income, while
the other is an interdisciplinary body of social science literature that includes theories of environment and

5
ethics. To show how consequences of climate change lead to justice problems (climate
injustice is discussed in detail in chapter 2). For introductory purpose, an illustration is
taken up after the Diagram 1 which explains climate injustice at a microscopic level.
(Environmental justice to be precise in this example)
Diagram 1: Showing environmental justice concerns prevalent between class A and
class B in an enclosed society due to climate change.

Class A in diagram represents group of people politically influential and economically

powerful. This class can control any laws and regulations as are better represented in
environmental and lobbying group. They are able to get all the benefits like green spaces,
bike paths, recreational facilities and overall clean environment and hence face no health
issues associated with polluted environment. They are in position to tackle (mitigate and
adapt) any contingency.

justice, environmental laws and their implementations, environmental policy and planning and governance
for development and sustainability, and political ecology.
21
Social Justice is a concept of fair and just relation between the individual and society. This is measured by
the explicit and tacit terms for the distribution of wealth, opportunities for personal activity and social
privileges. In the current grassroots movements for social justice, the emphasis has been on the breaking of
barriers for social mobility, the creation of safety nets and economic justice.

6
Class B in diagram represents the group of people who are living in poverty, racial
minorities or living in slum areas or industrial areas22. They inhabit areas where waste
facilities, transport facilities like airport, etc. are located which either belong to Class A
people or benefit most of Class A people. Class B people have few alternatives for where
to work or where to live, little awareness of risk arising due to environmental degradation
caused by the establishments in their area. They lack access to safe recreational facilities
where they can exercise, no access to nutritional food. In all they are living under
increasing environmental burden. Class A will continue to grow at expense of class B.
Class B have no option but to continue to be vulnerable.
Consider this situation at world level. It is acknowledged that climate change affects
everyone, but it disproportionately strikes those who have contributed least to it and who
are also, for a variety of reasons, least well placed to respond. By contrast, the main
contributors to climate change (with the largest carbon footprints23) are living and
working in the world’s wealthier regions. By virtue of their wealth and/or access to
resources24, they are mostly insulated. This fundamental justice concern is exacerbated by
the fact that climate change will strain the ability of many states, especially the poorest
among them (Pacific island nations in particular), to protect themselves from the climate
change driven by the emission.25 This results in unequal distribution of environment
benefits and burdens at global level. This is referred as “climate injustice” issue.
Thus, apart from scientific research, climate change demands in-depth socio-legal study
for addressing the concerns raised by “climate injustice” issue.

1.2 PROBLEM PROFILE

The root cause of climate change is the combustion of fossil fuels at very large scale. The
solution that first strikes to mind is to limit the use of fossil fuels. But the giant

22
An example of such areas can be easily found in Delhi with factories (that are highly polluting chemical
industries) in the localities causing unacceptable environmental impacts. These areas are Okhla, Patparganj,
Mayapuri, Naraina, SamaypurBadli, Nazafgarh, Mandoli, Motinagar, Ghazipur, Libaspur, Anand Parbat,
Wazipur, Yamuna Vihar, Shastri Park and Mustafabad.
23
Due to their early industrialization, they are the largest contributor of carbon emissions and other GHGs.
24
Irony is that this wealth is earned from the energy consumption that produced carbon emissions.
25
Supra note 15.

7
corporations/Countries who sell the fossil fuels have never acknowledged the reality of
the environmental havoc their products are wreaking and have chosen not to invest very
much in research and development of the sequestration technology that would be
necessary to make their products safe to continue to use on such a large scale. Because of
this corporate neglect, the available sequestration technology is primitive and unusable.
Also that fossil fuels prices are driven down by the government subsidization26, as well as
by the failure of the prices to reflect the damage done to the planet, has made it next to
impossible so far for non-carbon fuels to complete successfully without offsetting
subsidies of their own.27 Also under the aegis of World Trade Organization28 (hereinafter
WTO), different kinds of subsidies are still available to polluting countries.
The next problem is that the present climate justice landscape is fragmented and not
properly synchronized and creates difficulty in achieving consensus on addressing the
climate change itself. Every country at the global negotiating table views climate change
crisis from narrow perspective (looks at the political map whereas the problem of climate
change operates not on political map but on physical map of world) and tries to find
solutions to the problem of global warming accordingly. They fail to realize climate
change sees no boundaries when it shows its might.
The voices for climate justice are raised all around the globe. But in the global South,
demands for climate justice unite an impressive diversity of indigenous and other land-
based people’s movements. They include rainforest dwellers opposing new mega-dams
and palm oil plantations, African communities resisting land appropriations for industrial
agriculture and Agro-fuel production, Pacific Islanders (Kiribati and Tuvalu in particular)
facing the loss of their homes as well the very existence of their country due to rising
seas, and peasant farmers fighting for food sovereignty and basic land rights. The

26
International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook Report 2011: Analysis of Fossil-Fuel Subsidies
(2011), available at: https://www.iea.org/media/weowebsite/energysubsidies/ff_subsidies_slides.pdf (last
visited on Aug 28, 2025).
27
Hanlon Seth, “Big Oil’s Misbegotten Tax Gusher: Why They Don’t Need $70 Billion from Taxpayers
amid Record Profits” (May 5, 2011), available at: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/tax-
reform/news/2011/05/05/9663/big-oils-misgotten-tax-gusher/ (last visited on Aug 18, 2025).
28
An intergovernmental organization aimed at regulating international trade (by reducing tariff and non-
tariff restrictions on trade) was founded on January 1, 1995 as a successor to General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade. As on June, 2020 it has 164 members.

8
underlying north-south conflict is another serious impediment to concerted actions and it
is also aggravated by the traditional approach to environmental diplomacy that
emphasizes the gap between haves and haves-not. At the negotiating table, these
underlying differences divide the world into two groups, namely, big industrialized
nations and poor nations. The big industrialized nations or rich nations who are biggest
contributor of climate change occupy the prominent positions at all international forums,
giving them leverage to have laws, treaties and conventions suited to their own interest.
These wealthier nations are not offering to assist the poorer nations which are much less
able already than the wealthier nations to adapt to climate change. Some wealthier
nations led by U.S.A, insist adamantly that the poorer contribute to mitigate by pursuing
more costly, lower emissions forms of development, which may slow the development
that is their only prospective source of resources for adaptation to the disruptions that will
be and are already being produced by the climate change. The wealthier nations want the
burden of mitigation to be shared by all, including those who lack the resources to adapt
but the burden of adaptation is not to be shared by all. These contentions of countries
have led to two track negotiations, whereby mitigation and adaptation are considered as
separate from each other rather than steps needing joint implementation to cope with
climate change and its consequences. This has given rise to slogan “climate first, justice
may be later29”.
Within the second group of poor nations, there emerged two sub categories: the poorer
nations with least leverage30 and poor nations with most leverage31. These two sub groups
lack cooperation on the issue of climate justice that has affected their bargaining strength
badly, against rich nations at the negotiating tables.
Intergenerational spread of climate change creates further division. The past and present
generations those who have and are creating climate change may or may not face as dire
consequences as might be faced by the future generations.

29
Henry Shue, Climate Justice: Vulnerability and Protection 5 (Oxford University Press, England, 1st ed.,
2014).
30
Countries like Indonesia, Haiti, Bangladesh, Coastal parts of India and most Pacific Island Nations (like
Tuvalu and Kiribati).
31
Countries like China which were once colonies and late in industrialization but are now significant
contributors to climate change.

9
The division exists at institutional levels about which right to be given prominence, i.e.,
Right to develop or right to environment. This fight is visible at intra-country level. The
Governments in developed and developing countries are either restricts the movement of
local and indigenous people or completely displaces them for their development Motives.
A new trend is now visible in some tropical countries where governments promote eco-
tourism in conservation sites by displacing local population. What better way to encash
conservational efforts!
This represents fragmentation at five levels: inter-hemispherical (Global North v. Global
South); inter-country (belonging to same hemisphere but still face vivid issues); inter-
generational (Past v. Present v. Future); inter-organizational (Developmental v.
Conservational); intra-country (Government v. Local and Indigenous people).
Thus, the laws that are eventually framed are fragmented; overlapping and incoherent.
This fragmentation is biggest challenge to implementation of environmental laws at both
national and international level.
Thirdly, Climate change being the biggest scientific concern of this century and of
coming centuries commands and demands the undiverted attention from the scientific
community to find root cause, its effects and the best cost-effective solutions to it. It is
plausible that the issue demands more scientific and technological research on this topic.
Even majority of the portion in IPCC’s ARs and Special Reports involves upgrading the
knowledge on scientific and technical on the climate change. In AR532, which is a work
of 831 authors who are mostly experts from the fields like physics, meteorology,
engineering, oceanography, statistics, economics, ecology and social science, only a little
over 10 pages33 were devoted to ethical and social justice problems caused by the climate
change.
A clear understanding has been generated about linkage between climate change and
human activity in the AR5. But still the uncertainty looms over the linkage between this
anthropogenic climate change and extreme individual weather events in the form of
32
IPCC, Climate Change 2014: AR5 Synthesis Report, A Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to
the AR5 of the IPCC (2014), available at:
https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/SYR_AR5_FINAL_full.pdf (last visited on Aug 30, 2025).
33
Charles Kolstad, et al., Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change 215-223 (2014), available
at: https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ipcc_wg3_ar5_chapter3.pdf (last visited on Sep 1,
2025).

10
cyclones and tornadoes. This is because of the complex nature of the climate system and
number of natural variables in the form of El Nino Southern Oscillations (hereinafter
ENSO)34 at the local and regional levels. This complexity makes it difficult to separate
the influence of human induced climate change from natural variables in causing extreme
weather events.35 The exact cause for single event cannot be assessed from small data
available for one event. But at the same time IPCC never denied that long term global
trends such as prolonged heat waves cannot be assessed and attributed to anthropogenic
climate change, a study which needs long time and complex scientific modals36.
This overemphasis on the exploring the connection between climate change and science
creates hindrances in actually arriving at the solutions. Some groups use this uncertainty
to spread miscommunication that there is no linkage in anthropogenic climate change and
extreme weather events. Also, this quest for scientific precision takes the focus away
from moral and ethical issues associated with anthropogenic climate change. The social
justice conundrum of climate change goes often unaddressed.
As already stated, Paris Agreement has near universal support, therefore it is deemed to
be remarkable multilateral achievement. Article 28 of the Paris Agreement37 allows
parties to withdraw from agreement within three years of its signing. The biggest emitter
U.S.A. has already withdrawn out of it. U.S.A is not only biggest emitter but a major
world power that acquires prominent position in major international forums. It has the
capacity to hinder any stringent action taken by environmental forums. It acts a
demotivating factor for other nations. No one is sure how many will leave the agreement
midway before the time comes to act on it.
Further the agreement is based on bottom up voluntary approach defined through
“Nationally Determined Contributions” (hereinafter NDCs). The problem is that these

34
ENSO is a scientific term that includes two extreme events El Nino and La Nina. This represents the
fluctuations in temperature between ocean and atmosphere in equatorial pacific especially in east central
region. These variations have large scale impact in oceans as well both on weather and climate. These bring
unprecedented rain in some regions and unprecedented droughts in the regions lying opposite.
35
Seneviratne, S.I, et al., IPCC, A Special Report of WG I and WG II of the IPCC: Managing the Risks of
Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation 109-230 (2012), available at:
https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/03/SREX-Chap3_FINAL-1.pdf (last visited on Sep 1, 2025).
36
Ibid at 127.
37
Supra note 19.

11
NDCs remain pledges which lack legal obligation. If emission rate continues at current
speed, global warming would exceed the Paris Agreement target of 1.5ºC in some five
years. With urgent, fair and sufficient action, there is time to avoid catastrophic climate
change, but not much time. As of now, there are no “enforceable means to require
countries to reduce emissions by specific amounts”.
Apart from this many developing countries are heavily dependent on significant climate
finance for fulfilling their pledges (which has not yet materialized from wealthier
countries). The funds created for the specific purposes are rarely available with pledged
amounts.
New kinds of refugees are created by climate change crisis called “climate refugees”.
There exists the definitional challenge while tackling the problem of climate refugees as
they are also not recognized under any existing convention, especially The Refugee
Convention of 1951 and no consensus prevails over any definition given by various
scholars or organizations.
There have been a number of attempts over the decades to enumerate environmental
migrants and refugees. Norman Myers, a British Environmentalist, is most cited
researcher in this field. He stated that there were 25 million environmental refugees in the
mid-1990s, further claiming that this figure could double by 2010, with an upper limit of
200 million by 2050.38 These claims have gained currency with the most common
projection being that the world will have 150-200 million climate change refugees by
2050 with references made in influential reports like IPCC and International
Organization for Migration (hereinafter IOM).39 But these have been independent
researches, which have not got backing from international platform like UN in their
conventions and protocols. The problem in calculating the exact number of climate
refugees is that as the national immigration laws restrict the entry of non-citizens into
their countries; only few class of migrants are allowed to enter (under work permit,
education visa and stateless persons), so people who are displaced by climate change tend
to migrant under existing laws and making it difficult to collect accurate data on climate

38
Norman Myers, “Environment Refugees: A Growing Phenomenon of 21st Century” 357(1420) Phil Trans
R Soc Lon B Biol Sci 609-613 (2002).
39
Oli Brown, “Migration and Climate Change” 31 IOM MIGRATION RESEARCH J. (2008).

12
refugees. The complexity of migration decisions and the interconnectedness of economic,
social, political and environmental factors make it virtually impossible to provide an
accurate estimate of people who move because of climate change. So, climate change is
often considered as causing multiplier effect on pre-existing stressors. Moreover,
internally displaced migrants due to climate change are rarely accounted in any
governmental policies as “climate refugees”.
The problem is further aggravated by the environmental skeptics and those who want to
undermine the effect of climate change. They have fueled the idea that climate change
related displacement is a threat to international security, making it difficult for countries
to render any help.
Further some of the grimmest consequences for human rights in relation to climate
change are contained in the IPCC AR40 about the health consequences of climate
changes, which predicts;
“increases in malnutrition and consequent disorders; increased deaths, disease and
injury due to heat waves, floods, storms, fires and droughts; the increased burden of
diarrheal disease; the increased frequency of cardio- respiratory diseases due to higher
concentrations of ground- level ozone; and, the altered spatial distribution of some
infectious disease vectors, including malaria”41.

It is clear that those populations with “high exposure, high sensitivity and/or low adaptive
capacity” will bear the greatest burdens; those who contribute the least to the problem of
global warming will continue to face the most severe consequences.
There also exists a curious case of island countries like Maldives, Tuvalu and Kiribati
who are on the verge of submergence. The entire country or to be more specific “the
territorial ingredient” required in definition of “State” will be taken away. This creates
peculiar situation for citizens where they have no state to protect them and they cannot
seek help for other nations. Imagining the plight of such climate exiles have no home to
go back and only solution is to be illegal immigrant or live in refugee camps. Such
refugees are not only deprived of their home, but also of the use their skill due to which

40
Supra note 11.
41
Ibid.

13
they earned their livelihood and thus forced to take whatever job they get in other nation.
This job might be degrading their dignity. Their cultural rights are impacted to the extent
that they might not pass on their heritage to next generations.
Another problem pertains to International Law i.e. “extra territorial obligations”.
International Law recognizes “extra territorial obligations” to very limited extent which
certainly does not exist for climate refugees. There exists a gap in international legal
system when dealing with extra territorial obligations which makes the case of climate
refugees weak.
What further complicates the problem is how courts of various countries dealt with the
issue of climate refugees. In 2013 a claim of Kiribati national of being “climate change
refugee” under the “Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951)” was
determined by the New Zealand High Court to be untenable. The Court rejected the
argument that the international community itself (or countries which can be said to have
been historically high emitters of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases) were
“prosecutor” for the purposes of the Refugee Convention.42
In 2014 another case came to light when a Tuvaluan family claimed themselves as
“climate change refuges” and made appeal in the New Zealand Immigration and
Protection Tribunal. The family was successful in their appeal because under the relevant
immigration laws, there were “exceptional circumstances of humanitarian nature” that
justified the grant of resident permits as the family was integrated into the New Zealand
society with a sizeable extended family which has effectively relocated to New Zealand.
So, the grant of residence was unrelated to refugee claim.43
India has many dedicated laws for the protection of environment and wildlife44 but no
specific legislation exists with regard to rights of people migrating due to climate change.

42
Ioane Teitiota v. Chief Executive of the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (2013) 3125
NZLR (HC), available at: https://www.nzlii.org/nz/cases/NZHC/2013/3125.htnl (last visited on August 21,
2017).
43
Vernon Rive, “Climate Refugees Revisited: A Closer Look at The Tuvalu Decision”, available at:
https://www.vernonrive.co.nz/PointSource/Climate_refugees-
revisited_a_closer_look_at_the_Tuvalu_deci.aspx (last visited on March 4, 2017).
44
The Environment Protection Act, 1986; the Forest Conservation Act, 1980; the Wildlife Protection Act,
1972; Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974; Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution
Act), 1981; the Indian Forest Act, 1927.

14
References are sought from the provisions of The Constitution of India while dealing
with the impacts of climate change on citizens of India. In April 2017, a 9-year old girl
filed a lawsuit against the Indian Government in National Green Tribunal for failing to
take action on climate change. The litigation is still pending.45 These types of litigations
are to increase in future if no dedicated legislation is made on it.
Lastly, Climate Change Crisis encompasses every aspect of human being’s life; from
lifestyle to economic system to political preferences to ethical choices. This crisis
requires behavioral change from the people at a fundamental level that will change the
way people live their life. Bringing behavioral change at such a large-scale demands
command-and control system, and this is absent due to lack of political will around the
world. Today most of the laws at international level are regulatory. In India where
majority of portion of environmental landscape is based on command-and-control system
the crisis faces different problem. The Indian Environmental Framework is devoid of
basic percepts of “rule of law”46

1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

(i) To study the historical underpinnings that led to climate injustice and in turn
compound injustice.
(ii) To identify different types of injustices related with climate change.
(iii) To apply right based approach while dealing with problem of climate injustice
and climate refugees.
(iv) To make detailed examination of Climate Justice Activism and its impact on
International Climate Negotiations.

45
Chloe Farad, “Nine year old girl files lawsuit against Indian Government over the failure to take
ambitious climate action” Independent, available at: https://www.independent.co.in.uk/environment/nine-
ridhima-pandey-court-case-indian-government-climate-change-accountant-says (last visited on Aug 28,
2025).
46
“The Rule of Law” is an aspect of political morality where laws and legal system based on three basic
principles assumes supremacy. The three basic principles are: formal (generality, clarity, publicity, stability
and prospective nature of laws), procedural (processes by which these norms are administered and the
institutions administering them) and substantive (presumption of liberty and respect for private property
rights).

15
(v) To study the current challenges to national and international legal regime on
Climate Change, with focus on its implications on justice and deficiencies.
(vi) To study the relevant international legal regimes dealing with human rights, trade,
state responsibility, mitigation and adaptation measures, food security and technology
transfer and how they directly and indirectly impact Climate Justice issue.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following are the research questions which the researcher will answer in the course
of this research:

(i) Whether climate justice could be part of social justice movement?

(ii) Whether the present global climate negotiations are heading in right direction?
(iii) Whether claims of poor suffering nations such as “ecological unequal exchange
and climate debt is owed by the industrialist nations” hold any ground?
(iv) Whether current measures of “mitigation and adaptation” complement each other
and offer most sustainable outcomes for dealing climate change or they can be counter-
productive?
(v) Whether migration offers the one and only plausible solution for climate
refugees?
(vi) Whether there is any remedy for the injustices that happened and are going on as
a consequence of global warming?

1.5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The present research work is based upon doctrinal method. The study will include
secondary materials and data collected from different sources ranging from published
articles, books, theses, journals, newspapers, magazines, television documentaries,
international conference proceedings and science, law reporters, supranational case laws,
statutory provisions, national legislations, legal rules and doctrines, different international
treaties, reports and frameworks.

16
1.6 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The foundation of any doctrinal research work rests on the works of previous authors on
the topic. Climate change today is the most controversial topic globally. There is no
dearth of scientific or political literature on this topic. Thus, it becomes very important to
carefully review all the source material viz. books, research journals, articles, research
papers, international reports, national reports on the said topic. As different materials
represent different approaches open for the researcher to take up while planning and
conducting the research. In climate change crisis, not only the political literature but
scientific literature creates confusion and chaos about the scientific modals that indicate
the trustworthy predictions. Being of the non-scientific background the researcher mainly
takes the help of authentic resources like those of IPCC and independent study of
scientists associated with IPCC. On the political front, there are two types of materials-
one being extra cautious about the crisis and recommend steps accordingly; second type
are those who completely deny the worrisome atmosphere at big scale and blame it as the
creation of scientists and take very optimistic approach in recommending the steps for
dealing with warming. A new category of books has come which are called as ‘cli-fi’
which attracts the attention of fiction readers but on the topic climate change. These types
of books can sway our ship in two opposite directions. These books can grab the attention
of masses on the issue which huge scientific reports fail in doing. Also, if these books
want to deny some fact, have shown the tendency to use names and places resembling
actual names and places and combine with pseudo-science and theories. Thus, it becomes
important to review the relevant literature in discovering what is known, what is
unknown, what are the loopholes, what is true and what is false and what direction to
follow in the research work.
ARTICLES
Environment Conservation in Ancient India47 by Dr Renu Tanwar48 is an article that
focused on the ancient Indian practices and policies which were concentrated towards

Dr. Renu Tanwar, “Environment Conservation in Ancient India” 21 (9) IOSR Journal of Humanities
47

and Social Science 1-4 (September, 2016), available at: https://www.iosrjournals.org (last visited on Aug
27, 2025).
48
Dr. Renu Tanwar is presently Assistant Professor in Department of Economics in Dyal Singh (P.G.)
College, Karnal, Haryana.

17
environmental conservation. From Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas to Ramayana,
Mahabharata and Bhagavat Gita to Kautilya’s phase the article makes detailed note of the
practices. But the author then directly jumps to Tagore’s Poem in raising the concern for
natural environment by quoting poems of Rabindranath Tagore. This article is an abrupt
piece which does not took complete account of ancient India. Neither the Harappan
period nor any period post Mauryan or any South Indian regime nor is any account of
foreign travelers discussed which could have presented the real ground picture. Thus, the
researcher finds the article incomplete and lacks proper research.

Reforming the Liability Regime for Air Pollution in India49 by Shibani Ghosh50
deals with analyzing laws on the air pollution in India. The article finds three critical
problems in not controlling toxic levels of air pollution in India- a) powers of
imposing penalties is not given to pollution control board, thus civil remedies are not
available; b) the available criminal remedies are not effective and efficient; c) the
newly constituted National Green Tribunal failed in providing appropriate relief. The
article discusses the Air Pollution Act vis-a-vis Indian Penal Code, Criminal
Procedure Code and National Green Tribunal Act. The article frames the issue
through the prism of fragmentation involved in the implementation and tussle
between central and state pollution control boards and concludes that the current act
is not able to deal with present crisis less to say about future. The article has helped
researcher in using the argument of fragmentation by aligning the concepts like
“environmental rule of law” and “separation of power” in broader issues of climate
change and climate refugees.

49
Shibani Ghosh, “Reforming the Liability Regime for Air Pollution in India” Environmental Law &
Practice Review (30 December, 2015), available at:
https://www.cprindia.org/research/papers/reforming-liability-regime-air-pollution-
india#:~:text=The%20recent%20uproar%20about%20the,India%20to%20control%20air%20pollution. (last
visited on Sep 1, 2025).
50
Shibani Ghosh did Bachelor’s degree in Civil Law and M.Sc. in Environmental Change and Management,
Environmental Change Institute from University of Oxford. She received DOPT-RTI fellowship form
Government of India in 2011 for researching the implementation of Right to Information Act, 2005. She
was Sustainability Science Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School (2014-15) and a visiting faculty at the TERI
University and the RICS School of Built Environment, where she taught environmental law. Currently she
is a fellow in Centre for Policy Research (a policy think-tank) where she researches on environmental
issues.

18
Effectiveness of Environmental Public Interest Litigation in India: Determining the
Key Variables51 by Michael G. Faure52 and A.V. Raja53 is a long lengthy piece on the
working of Public Interest Litigation (hereinafter PIL) in environmental field. It started
the discussion with weaknesses in traditional approaches then moves further by
explaining the entire concept of evolution of PIL and its application in India in various
fields. The article puts the argument that PIL may be a short term and temporary solution
(deemed effective and cost effective) but a long-term solution will involve good
regulatory framework whereby the legislations and regulations are frontrunners and then
judiciary should step in only to trigger the action from regulatory bodies. The judicial
activism in India as observed in the paper does not go itself through the formal standards,
making it uncertain tool to be adopted in solving environmental debate.

India in Climate Change Negotiations54 by Uttam Kumar Sinha55, Ashild Kolas56 and
Jason Miklian57 is paper that concisely mentions the India’s stand in UNFCCC

51
Michael G. Faure and A.V. Raja, “Effectiveness of Environmental Public Interest Litigation in India:
Determining the Key Variables” 21 (2) Fordham Environmental Law Review (2010).
52
Michael G. Faure studied law at the University of Antwerp (licenciated in law 1982) and criminology at
the University of Gent (licenciated in criminology 1983). He obtained a Master of Laws from the
University of Chicago Law School (1984). Currently he is full time Professor in Rotterdam Institute of Law
and Economics, Erasmus University, Rotterdam.
53
A.V. Raja was faculty member of Department of Economics, University of Hyderabad. He did his Ph.D.
from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur with research interest in Micro Economic Theory,
Industrial Economics, and Theory of the Firm, Law & Economics. He was an alumnus of Banaras Hindu
University (hereinafter BHU), and did his graduation and post-graduation in economics from there.

54
Uttam Kumar Sinha, Ashild Kolas and Jason Miklian, “India in Climate Change Negotiations” Peace
Research Institute Oslo (January 2017), available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327285179
(last visited on May 11, 2018).

55
Dr. Uttam Kumar Sinha is a Research Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies
and Analyses (hereinafter MP-IDSA). His areas of research include transboundary water issues,
climate change and the Arctic region. At MP-IDSA, he is also the Managing Editor of Strategic
Analysis published by Routledge. A doctorate in International Politics from Jawaharlal Nehru
University, Dr. Sinha holds an adjunct position at the Malaviya Centre for Peace Research, Banaras
Hindu University and is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies Sri Lanka, a
think-tank of that country’s Ministry of Defence.
He is currently on the technical advisory board of the South Asia Water Governance Programme and
has a policy advisory role at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in
Kathmandu. He was a Chevening ‘Gurukul’ Scholar at the London School of Economics in 2008;
participated in the Harvard Kennedy School’s South Asia Leaders Programme in 2015; and was a
visiting fellow at the Peace Research Institute Oslo in 2006.

19
Conference of Parties (hereinafter COPs) from 1992 to Paris Agreement and what as a
country India hopes in the International agreement. The article appreciates India’s effort
in making alliance of 120 countries on solar energy. The ‘Make in India’ according to
article offers a lot more opportunities for India and can help India in its Intended
Nationally Determined Contributions. The article is good for factual reading but offers no
other help in the research work.

Environmental Laws in India: Challenges for Enforcement58 by V.K. Agarwal59 is on

the different environmental laws operating in India and their respective implementation
and interpretation by judiciary. The article succinctly brings out the structural scheme of
each of the acts and mentions the areas in which they work. The article also details the
list of judicial cases presently helpful in getting the correct picture of laws. The flaws
mentioned in concluding part are- pollution control boards are not powerful enough to

56
Ashild Kolas is a social anthropologist and Research Professor at Peace Research Institute Oslo, Norway.
She was the head of Peace Research Institute Oslo’s Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding Program from
2005 to 2011. Her core research interests are ethnicity, identity politics and peacebuilding. She has
conducted long-term fieldwork in multi-ethnic communities in India and China, and has written on Tibet,
Nepal, Inner Mongolia and Northeast India with a focus on governance and governmentality, identity
politics, discourse and representation. From 2006 to 2018, she coordinated an institutional cooperation
between Peace Research Institute Oslo and the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi.
She currently leads the project e-Topia: China, India and Biometric Borders, funded by the Research
Council of Norway.
57
Jason Miklian holds Post-doctoral Fellow at the Centre for Development and the Environment at the
University of Oslo and an M.Sc. in International Relations from the London School of Economics and
Political Science. Miklian has conducted extensive fieldwork in South Asia, Latin America and Africa
since 2005, with over one dozen medium or long-term fieldwork visits, leading projects with international
partnerships and institutional collaborations. In addition to extensive publication on the above topics,
Miklian has written for or been cited in an expert capacity by the New York Times, the BBC, The
Economist, Agence France-Presse, Foreign Policy, France 24, The Guardian (UK), The Hindu (India) and
National Public Radio (U.S.A.) among various media outlets. He is currently Senior Researcher at Peace
Research institute Oslo.
58
V.K. Agarwal, “Environmental Laws in India: Challenges for Enforcement” 230 Bulletin of the National
Institute of Ecology (New Delhi and Jaipur, 2005), available at:
https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/230538/14/13%20chapter%204.pdf
59
V.K. Agarwal obtained his B.Sc., LL.B. and LL.M. from the University of Delhi. He obtained his
Doctorate in Law from Kurukshetra University. he was Director, Institute of Law, Kurukshetra
University which he established in 2001 as its Founder Director. During his tenure as Professor spanning
more than 20 years in Kurukshetra University, he has been - Dean, Faculty of Law; Chairman, Department
of Law; Dean, Academic Affairs and Registrar. Currently he is Vice-Chancellor at Jagan Nath University,
Jaipur from 1 May 2012.

20
execute their functions properly, laws take too many safeguards for industries, and laws
were not stringent enough and were mere descriptions. The article brings the focus on
having a dedicated environmental court as in 2005 National Green Tribunal (hereinafter
NGT) was not established. Other than that, this article fails to mention the tussle between
general and special laws; tussle between different laws discussed in the article itself and
how judiciary has been laying down the fundamental principles of the environmental law
which is a step in the wrong direction. The courts in India have become law makers more
often these days especially in environmental regime.

In Critical Assessment of Existing Environmental Legislation and Policies in India,

Its Benefits, Limitation, and Enforcement60, Anirbun Dhulia61 and Rajiv Ganguly62
critically assesses the Environmental Protection Act and its corresponding rules, role
played by National Environmental Appellant Authority Act, 1997, Water (Protection and
Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess
Act, 1977, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, Forest and Wildlife Acts,
1972, The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991,
National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995 on the similar lines with the article by V.K.
Agarwal mentioned previously. The article is helpful in assessing the details of these acts
and the flaws therein. But apart from bringing out the drawbacks in the legislative pieces,
the article fails to take into account the parallel delegated legislations and the tussle

60
Anirbun Dhulia and Rajiv Ganguly, “Critical Assessment of Existing Environmental Legislation and
Policies in India, Its Benefits, Limitation, and Enforcement” Handbook of Environmental Materials
Management (February 2018), available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322924578 (last
visited on Aug 10, 2018).
61
Anirbun Dhulia did Bachelor of Engineering in 2014 from Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute
of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur and did Masters in Technology in 2016 from Civil
Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra. He is Assistant Professor of Civil
Engineering in Jaypee University of Information Technology, Himachal Pradesh. His area of specialization
is Environmental Engineering.
62
Rajiv Ganguly did Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Trinity College Dublin (2008); Masters of
Engineering in Civil Engineering (Environmental Engineering) from Jadavpur University (2003) and
Bachelors of Engineering in Civil Engineering, Nagpur University (2000). He is currently Associate
Professor in Civil Engineering Department, Jaypee University of Information Technology, Himachal
Pradesh and also Post-doctoral research fellow at School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, U.S.A.

21
existing between the above-mentioned acts in implementing them. Also, the article does
not suggest any solutions to address this anomaly.

National Forest Policy in India: Critique of Targets and Implementation63 by Pallavi

Pant64 and Amarnath Giriraj65 gave a comprehensive work on forest policies in India
beginning from 1894. The article criticized the “passing mark” limit set in case of forest
cover since 1952 policy without any scientific knowledge. The paper therefore tries to
look for an alternative to one –third passing mark option and what it would mean for
country. The paper took up much needed debate on the definitional gaps in the forest
laws and policy, especially in defining “forest and tree cover”. The paper calls for new
forest policy which can integrate all key programs like Joint Forest Management
(hereinafter JFM), forest fire control measures, treatment of drought prone areas,
strengthening of infrastructure, wildlife conservation, pollution control measures and
implementation of environment law. The forest policy according to paper should
integrate 20-25 years of top-bottom and bottom-top approaches and should also have well
placed accounting and informing system in place. This paper is well written and has
helped researcher on the forest laws and policy initiatives.

63
Pallavi Pant and Amarnath Giriraj, “National Forest Policy in India: Critique of Targets and
Implementation” Small-scale Forestry (March 2010), available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/202780931 (last visited on Jan 15, 2019).
64
Pallavi Pant holds a Ph.D. in environmental health from the University of Birmingham, UK, and M.Sc. in
Environmental Studies from TERI School of Advanced Studies, India. She completed her postdoctoral
research training in exposure science at the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of
Massachusetts, Amherst. Her research has focused on characterization and assessment of urban air
pollution, particularly in India. She serves as the social media editor for the Journal of Exposure Science
and Environmental Epidemiology, and is also active in initiatives to promote public understanding of air
pollution in India and elsewhere. She is presently Staff Scientist at Health Effect Institute, Boston, U.S.A.
65
Amarnath Giriraj Dr. Giriraj Amarnath is a remote sensing researcher specialized in the application of
Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems in the study of risk assessment across a wide range
of natural hazards and monitoring land and water resources in Asia and Africa. He has over 13 years’
experience in research including 3 years in academic at University of Bayreuth, Germany. He is presently
Research Group Leader, Water Risks and Disasters, International Water Management Institute.

22
BOOKS
In Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience and Fight for a Sustainable Future66, the author
Mary Robinson67 share the details of her personal life about working on the issue of
climate justice from the forefront. She started with the details of 2016 Marrakech meet
when it was quite probable that USA would withdraw from Paris Agreement. From there
the book takes a turn and shares the experience of those who are living proof of climate
injustices. From the stories of rural women farmers in Uganda to M’bororo68 people of
Republic of Chad to post-Katrina survivors from USA to Yupik69 People of Alaska and
Arctic to Saami70 people of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia to indigenous people of
Vietnam to I-Kiribati of Kiribati to experiences of workers post closure of largest mine in
Canada to institutional and other challenges of implementing Paris Agreement, the book
takes the reader to the whirlwind of 11 grass root experiences facing critical problems in
earning bare minimum needs needed for survival. It shows the actual human face of
climate change crisis. This book is not conceptual in nature and cannot help in knowing
the nation wise problems (especially with respect to India) in framing and implementing
national law and policies on climate change. The book provides not solutions in dealing
with the moral issues involved.
The book Rising Tides: Climate Refugees in the Twenty-First Century71 by John R.
Wennersten72 and Denise Robbins73 takes dig at the rich affluent nations that base their

66
Mary Robinson, Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience and Fight for a Sustainable Future (Bloomsbury
Publishing, 1st ed., 2018).
67
Mary Robinson was the first woman President of Ireland elected in 1990. Later in 1997 she served as
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She is presently working on the issue of climate
justice through her foundation ‘Mary Robinson Foundation’.
68
The M’bororo community are an indigenous community situated in the borderlands of Cameroon and in
neighbouring areas of Central African Republic, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Though the
more than 1 million M’bororo in Cameroon are spread all over the country with the majority based as
pastoralists in the savannah of the North West.
69
The Yupik are a group of indigenous or aboriginal peoples of western, southwestern, and
southcentral Alaska and the Russian Far East. They are related to the Inuit and Inupiat peoples.
70
The Saami people are an indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting Sapmi, which today encompasses
large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula within the Murmansk
Oblast of Russia. The Sámi have historically been known in English as Lapps or Laplanders.
71
John R. Wennersten and Denise Robbins, Rising Tides: Climate Refugees in the Twenty-First Century
(Indiana University Press, 2017).

23
economy on fossil fuels. At the very outset the authors make clear the human hand
behind climate change and the problem of climate refugees. The book makes the point
that issue of climate change and resulting flight of people impacted by climate change is
not for the future, but with evidences they claim the problem is visible in the present also.
The examples of present sea-faring people entering west through various entry points
(one of them Mediterranean Sea) and the conflict hit Syrian refugees are indicating
climate change as multiplying factor in influencing decision of migration. In the future,
the book claims the water scarcity and therefore conflicts to control these resources like
the ones in Syria will occur frequently. With the peak melt point reaching in 2050 in
Tibetan Himalayan plateau will impact countries like India, China, Pakistan and
Bangladesh and with reduced flows of rivers the conflict in these countries will increase.
Presently the west also faces climate related issues, thus they unwelcome any refugee
citing security reasons. The issue hits India also as she refuses to welcome and keep
Bangladeshi refugees anymore. The book claims such footloose migrants will increase in
future and then any action will nothing. By taking the data from Latin America, Africa,
Middle East and Asia, the book brings the moment of truth forth. Again, the book fails to
deal solution aspect in detail. It merely cites the problem without going into detail what is
lacking within particular regions government’s policies. The book blames the west for the
entire problems without dealing with moral and ethical aspects of the climate change
crisis. The book is high on sympathetic element for all the migrants but fails to deals with
the pragmatic and conceptual aspect of the problem.

72
Dr. John R. Wennersten is a senior fellow at the National Museum of American History at the
Smithsonian Institution, and a member of the board of directors for the Anacostia Watershed Society. He is
a professor emeritus of environmental history at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, and he served
as the associate editor for Maryland Historical Magazine for ten years. He was selected as a humanities
scholar for Maryland and received the Maryland Writers Prize for his work The Oyster Wars of
Chesapeake Bay.
73
Denise Robbins is an environmental affairs journalist at Media Matters in Washington, D.C. A graduate
of Cornell University, Denise regularly publishes articles dealing with all aspects of global and national
environmental change with a special interest in climate refugee problems in South Asia and Africa. She is
member of the Society of Environmental Journalists.

24
The book Climate Justice: Case Studies in Global and Regional Governance
Challenge74 by Randall S. Abate75 provides important theoretical insights into the
emerging field of climate justice and explores a range of international, regional and
national innovative legal and policy responses in seeking to promote it for the most
vulnerable populations. This book has been an extensive study and helped the researcher
in having 360 º perspectives on issue of climate justice and how to proceed with the
current research. The book uses case study approach in highlighting different models on
substantive and procedural dimensions of the issue. The book critiques on the potential
mitigation responses in which present developed countries mostly invest, such as Bio
energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (hereinafter BECCS, a climate geo engineering
solution) by taking the human rights approach. The book takes the cause of indigenous
communities of North America and small island nations of Pacific Ocean while
addressing the issue of developing countries, least developed countries and vulnerable
communities in need of financial and technological help in mitigating and adapting. The
book also takes the cause of ‘non-human inhabitants’ who are being overlooked in the
climate debate. Finally, the book applauds the victory of non-governmental organizations
in bringing their respective countries government responsible for non-action. The book
becomes foundation for the research work in taking the cause forward of climate justice
and climate refugees.
Dominic Roser76 and Christian Seidel77 wrote an enlightening book titled Climate
Justice: An Introduction78, by establishing link between justice and climate change.

74
Randall S. Abate, Climate Justice: Case Studies in Global and Regional Governance Challenges
(Environmental Law Institute, 1st ed., 2016).
75
Randall S. Abate is a Professor of Law and Director of the Center for International Law and Justice at
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University College of Law in Orlando, Florida. Professor Abate
teaches Climate Justice, International Environmental Law, Natural Resources Law and Indigenous Peoples,
Climate Change Impacts on Ocean and Coastal Law, Public International Law, Constitutional Law, and
Animal Law. Professor Abate has 21 years of full-time law teaching experience at six U.S. law schools. He
also has taught international and comparative environmental law courses in Argentina, Canada, Cayman
Islands, China, Kenya, India, Spain, and Ukraine. In 2015-2016, Professor Abate conducted a 20-
destination book tour in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Australia in connection with his animal law and
climate justice books.
76
Dominic Roser is a senior research associate and lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Institute for Ethics and
Human Rights, University of Fribourg, Switzerland. As a Philosopher and Economist, he focuses on the
ethics of climate change, sustainability, global justice, intergenerational justice, risk, human rights, non-
ideal theory, and ethical questions pertaining to economic policy, economic theory, and business.

25
With a crisp clear philosophical introduction addresses the climate change crisis as a
moral and ethical challenge. The book addresses the issue from every corner bringing
forth every hidden aspect. By taking all if and buts involved in the debate on the
questions such as: Why to take any action? Does present generation owe any
responsibility towards future generation? What about intrageneration equity? the book
presents a comprehensive and balanced overview to the issue. Should we re-design
democratic institutions for more effective climate policy? With illustrative examples the
book is spread over 21 chapters divided into four parts. The book opens the minds of
readers on the conceptual intricacies on the issue. This book helped researcher in initial
parts only as it only gave the philosophical clarity on why climate change to be taken as
justice issue. Other than that, the researcher finds no flaw in the book.
The book Towards Climate Justice: Perspectives on the Climate Crisis and Social
Change79 by Brian Tokar80 and Eirik Eiglad81 is an important text on the analysis of UN
and U.S.A. policies relating to climate change. The book gave a famous slogan “Leave
the oil in the soil, the coal in the hole, and the tar sands in the land.” Thus, it focuses on
the oil companies and capitalist approach of various countries and criticizes the policies
such as carbon offsets. Thereby book addresses the failings of UN especially in achieving
the targets of Kyoto Protocol. It discusses the development of alternative groups, such as
the Climate Justice Now network, that challenge the current climate policies and work
towards creating climate justice. This book combined with book Politics of Climate

77
Christian Seidel did his Ph.D. from University of Bern in 2010. Presently, he is Professor at Karlsruhe
Institute of Technology. His area of specialization includes Philosophy of Action, Applied Ethics,
Normative Ethics and Social and Political Philosophy.
78
Dominic Roser and Christian Seidel, Climate Justice: An Introduction (Routledge Publishers, 2017).
79
Brian Tokar and Eirik Eiglad, Towards Climate Justice: Perspective on Climate Crisis and Social Change
(New Compass Press, 2014).
80
Brian Tokar is an activist and author, Lecturer in Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont,
and a board member of 350Vermont and the Institute for Social Ecology.
81
Eirik Eiglad is an Editor, Writer, Organizer, Graphic Designer. In the early 1990s he joined the anti-
militarist, environmentalist and anti-racist movement and was radicalized as a social ecologist. As a
movement activist, writer, translator and editor he has been involved in a range of left-libertarian projects
in Norway; organizing seminars, actions, protests and conferences.

26
Justice: Paralysis Above, Movement Below 82 by Patrick Bond83 helps the researcher in
getting the historical background of efforts taken at international level by UN and its
relevant agencies. These books bring global north- south debate and the greed and
predatory tendencies behind inaction or wrong actions such as neoliberal modals used in
solving the problem under the interrogative lens. These books have taken one sided view
and fail to address other issues behind the crisis like the population growth in least
developed island countries (Kiribati) and developing countries (India and China) and mad
race of these countries to become the next trillion-dollar super power.

Same is the case of book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate84
written by Naomi Klein85. It is book that largely concentrates on the capitalism as the
main cause behind the climate change. True capitalism is somewhere responsible for the
madness relating to fossil usage, but what is needed is regularization and complete end of
market system. The issue according to book calls for an immediate action, what will
every country (which is based on its strong economic set up) agrees to completely
abandon the capitalism is the hounding question. The issue is also about the bringing the
behavioural change in the people and in the society. Also, one cannot forgo the rewards/
profits for one’s initiatives which are only currently possible in capitalist system.
Capitalism as a system is not bad but the failure of the government to fulfill their
regulatory roles and the breeding corruption brings the worse out of the system.

82
Patrick Bond, Paralysis of Climate Change: Politics Above, Movement Below (University of KwaZuLu-
Natal Press, 2012).
83
Patrick Bond is professor at the University of the Western Cape School of Government. From 2015-19, he
was distinguished professor of political economy at the University of the Witwatersrand Wits School of
Governance. Before that, from 2004, he was senior professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he
directed the Centre for Civil Society. His research interests include political economy, environment, social
policy, and geopolitics.
84
Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism v Climate Change (Penguin Random House
Company, 2015).
85
Naomi Klein is a Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses and
criticism of corporate globalization and of capitalism. On a three-year appointment from September 2018,
she is the Gloria Steinem Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University.

27
Climate Justice: Vulnerability and Protection86 by Henry Shue87 is book containing 17
essays that are complete in themselves but also intricately linked to address the injustices
faced by people in poverty across the globe and will be faced by generation to come. The
main critique of book is on measures like ‘cap and trade policy’ and ‘carbon taxes’ which
presently fail to address issue from ethical perspective. This book has made extensive
research on the stands taken by U.S.A. and where it is wrong. Like other books this book
also demands actions from developed countries basing claim on historical reasons. This
book fails to tackle the inaction by national governments in countries like India and
China. It is true that some countries completely lack the capacity but somewhere the
national governments by following top-to-bottom approach are also responsible for the
sufferings of present and future generations.
The book Climate Change, Forced Migration, and International Law88 by Jane
McAdam89 is quite different book from all the books read by the researcher in the sense
that book states that a realist approach is needed to climate change and migration issues
as it is difficult to quantify the responsibility of states (according to the author). The book
also denies the way all fuss about climate refugees is created on the ground that only few
small islands states like Kiribati, Tuvalu and developing countries like Bangladesh will
be threatened. So, people mostly go for internal migration and people of Kiribati and
Tuvalu does not want to be recognized as refugees. The author claims studies based on

86
Supra note 29.
87
Henry Shue, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for International Studies of the Department of
Politics and International Relations, Professor Emeritus of Politics and International Relations,
and Senior Research Fellow Emeritus at Merton is best-known for his book, Basic
Rights, (Princeton 1980; 2nd edition, 1996); for his articles, 'Torture' (1978) and 'Subsistence
Emissions and Luxury Emissions' (1993); and for pioneering the sub-field of International
Normative Theory, which he taught as an optional subject in the M. Phil in International
Relations from 2002 until his retirement from teaching. He studied at Merton from 1961-1964 as
a Rhodes Scholar. In 1976 he was a co-founder of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy
at the University of Maryland and later became the inaugural Wyn and William Y Hutchinson
Professor of Ethics & Public Life at Cornell University. His research has focused on the role of
human rights, especially economic rights, in international affairs and, more generally, on
institutions to protect the vulnerable.
88
Jane McAdam, Climate Change, Forced Migration and International Law (Oxford University Press, 1st
ed., 2013).
89
Jane McAdam is a Professor in the Scientia Professor of Law at the University of New South Wales; a
non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington D.C. and a Research Associate at the
Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford.

28
these three countries should not divert the attention of other local problems and thereby
inhibit action completely. According to author, the present refugee law does not include
such people, so better not to call them climate refugees. This book gave researcher a
complete opposite viewpoint on the issue of climate refugees, which the researcher seeks
to challenge and examine more thoroughly. The author is correct in present context about
the researched countries but fails to appreciate the magnitude of the problem in future and
what will happen when resources will be limited and strained countries will indulge in
war over resources. The worst sufferers will be poor people, women, children, elderly
whose voices are never heard. The researcher challenges the foundation of the book by
showing the story from the side of Kiribati, Nauru and Bangladesh as people in these
countries are trapped and thereby resort to internal migration and only those who lose all
hope today are risking their lives in seas.

A Theory of Justice90 by John Rawls91 is on the theory of distributive justice. As the

research involves the concept of distribution of costs and benefits of climate change, the
researcher felt the need to study this theory. This book compares the distribution theory
with utilitarianism and intuitionism and criticizes the latter for not achieving certain
moral principles named as ‘categorical imperatives’. The theory by John Rawls fails to do
justice about global international problems that are bound to borders of countries. The
theory limits itself to international setting. Moreover, the theory was focused on bringing
out the flaws of utilitarianism rather than giving a complete alternate theory. Answers to
certain questions as: why some morals are categorically imperative and why income
distribution acquires priority over equality? The researcher did not find the theory to be
complete and befitting to be used in climate justice scenario.

90
Jane McAdam, Climate Change, Forced Migration and International Law (Oxford University Press, 1st
ed., 2013).
91
John Rawls (1921-2002) was an American political philosopher in the liberal tradition. His theory
of justice as fairness describes a society of free citizens holding equal basic rights and cooperating within
an egalitarian economic system. His theory of political liberalism delineates the legitimate use of political
power in a democracy, and envisions how civic unity might endure despite the diversity of worldviews that
free institutions allow. His writings on the law of peoples set out a liberal foreign policy that aims to create
a permanently peaceful and tolerant international order.

29
Climate Refugees in South Asia: Protection under International Legal Standards
and State Practices in South Asia92 by Stellina Jolly93 and Nafees Ahmad94 brings close
the climate justice debate especially the issue of migration to South Asia, a land which
includes eight independent countries. All the eight countries are part of South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation95 (hereinafter SAARC) and therefore the book
focuses on SAARC in providing a platform for the cooperation on issues and their
solution on climate change and migration issues. The book cones both empirical aspects
and normative concepts involving the climate refugee problems in these countries. As
already mentions the book focuses on South Asia and SAARC, the book lacks the global
perspective on the climate refugee issue and fails to realize that migration apart from
internal will take internationally. All the countries in the bloc are suffering from two
common problems- climate change and huge population. So, these countries would not
alone be compatible in helping each other. All countries have different priorities; SAARC
can only become a platform of discussion. So far regional blocs like SAARC are not even
successful in providing solutions to regional problems like Terrorism. Moreover, with
scarcity of funds, not much hope can be kept on SAARC.

92
Stellina Jolly and Nafees Ahmad, Climate Refugees in South Asia: Protection under International Legal
Standards and State Practices in South Asia (Springer Nature, Singapore, 2019).

93
Stellina Jolly is Assistant Professor at Faculty of Legal Studies, South Asian University, New Delhi. She
did her Ph.D. in Legal Studies from Panjab University in 2009. She has been awarded Fulbright-Nehru
Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship 2018-2019 and was selected for Department of State
International Visitor Leader Program on “The Hague Abduction Convention in Practice” 2019.
94
Nafees Ahmad is a Senior Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Legal Studies, South Asian University,
New Delhi. He holds a doctorate in International Refugee Law and Human Rights. His area of scholarship
focuses on refugees, migrants, the role of artificial intelligence in refugee protection, international politics
of asylum, migration, global forced displacement, global migration governance and climate refugees in
South Asia. He also addresses climate change-driven human displacement, refugee policy, invisible frames
of asylum, disconnects of durable solutions and SAARC connects and contexts of refugee protection.
95
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental
organization and geopolitical union of eight member states which includes
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The SAARC
comprises 3% of the world's area, 21% of the world's population and 4.21% (US$3.67 trillion) of the global
economy, as of 2019. The SAARC was founded in Dhaka on 8 December 1985. Its secretariat is based
in Kathmandu, Nepal. The organization promotes development of economic and regional integration.

30
Environmental Law: Fairness, Effectiveness and World Order96 by Elli Louka97 is
book that helped the researcher to know the knitty-gritty of International Environmental
Law. Although the book does not specifically concentrate on the climate change, it
focuses on all the environmental issues addressed by international treaties like Fisheries,
Germplasm, Deep Sea-bed resources, seas, waste management, water, air and
biodiversity. Also, the book focuses more from the perspective of the role of European
Union in addressing the different issues. The book does not focus morals and ethics per
se in addressing the failures on the part of international community rather it focuses on
the aspect of lack of binding commitments and lack of implementation of even binding
agreements. So, this book addresses the issue from techno-legal angle. It lacks in bringing
the justice issue to the forefront the book was helpful to researcher in taking a detailed
note on international regimes on climate change.

INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL REPORTS

The recent Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5℃98 by IPCC helped the
researcher in getting scientific knowledge on the issue. The report made a crucial point
on how even change in one single degree could make life-death difference in lives of
common people. Thus, the report calls for greater efforts on keeping the average global
temperature to under 1.5℃ as compared to pre-industrial levels. So, world just has 0.5℃
left to increase the warming levels. It was to be a deciding factor in Katowice climate
change conference in Poland. But this report was noted by countries but was not
welcomed by countries like Russia, U.S.A., Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on the ground that

96
Elli Louka, Environmental Law: Fairness, Effectiveness and World Order (Cambridge University Press,
1st ed., 2006).
97
Elli Louka is the founder of Law-in-Action (formerly Alphabetics), a consulting company based in
Princeton, New Jersey and has worked with countries and companies on international law and policy.
Louka has been a Marie Curie Fellow, a Ford Foundation Fellow and Senior Fellow at Orville H. Schell, Jr.
Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School. Publications include: “Nuclear Weapons,
Justice and the Law”, “Water Law and Policy: Governance without Frontiers”, “International
Environmental Law: Fairness, Effectiveness and World Order”.
98
IPCC, 2018: Summary for Policymakers. In: Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the
impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas
emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change,
sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva,
Switzerland, available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/spm/ (last visited on Jan 30, 2019).

31
report is not evidenced based. The report calls for “rapid and far-reaching” changes in
energy systems, land use, city and industrial design, transportation and building use. The
report calls for stronger and stricter actions by biggest emitters like China, the U.S.A., the
European Union and India. This report thereby highlights that present commitment under
Paris Agreement of keeping warming under 2℃ is not effective. Thus, the urgent action
is needed both internationally and nationally. This is what this research wants to base its
claim on.
The Special Report on Climate Change and Land99 is a report where IPCC for the first
time focused solely on land issues. The report talks about the land changes, contribution
of land-based activities to global warming and the resultant land degradation and the
impact it will have on the food security around the world. This report mentions that in
future the desertification will increase due to climate change. The report chalks out the
possible consequences of land degradation as poverty, migration, hunger, increase animal
morbidity, mortality and distress. This report is constant reminder about the unethical
practices adopted by current generation in land uses. Such a change will impact “food,
feed, fiber, fuel and freshwater” needed for survival by human beings. The report calls
for changing farming patterns, changing dietary plans and producing less food wastage.
The Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate100 by IPCC
is one of the third reports recently prepared in a run up to its sixth assessment report by
including new scientific knowledge on climatic modals. The report focuses on three main
aspects- ocean warming, global sea levels and melting of glaciers. With the statistical
backing since 1900s on the rate, intensity and frequency of ocean warming (doubled
since 1970s) and it’s absorption of more than its capacity of heat; sea level with average
3.6 mm per year increase has increased 16 cm form 1902 to 2015; sea level varies
regionally; the glaciers have melted on both the poles and in Himalayas making them the
dominant source of sea level rise; shrinking Cryosphere has led to negative impacts on

99
IPCC, 2019: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on
climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and
greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems, available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/ (last visited on
March 17, 2020).
100
IPCC, 2019: Summary for Policymakers. In: IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a
Changing Climate, available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/summary-for-policymakers/ (last visited
on Jun 20, 2020).

32
food security, water resources, water quality, livelihoods, health, and well-being, as well
as the culture of human societies, particularly for Indigenous peoples. This report is
highlighting injustices happening and will happen due to global warming and climate
change.
Climate Change 2014 – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability101 was part of the fifth
assessment report of IPCC. The report is divided into two parts- in the first part it
discusses the impact of climate change on humans and nature and in second part it deals
with regional aspects. The report has three new changes from the previous reports- the
increase in number of chapters as vast knowledge is available on impact of climate
change on different sectors; the risk factors are focused more whether being certain or
uncertain and are of some value, thus those events which will have high consequences are
focused to draw attention of policy makers; and solid evidence of interactions between
climate change and other events happening and will happen in future. The focus on risk
involved in climate change is an example of usage of utilitarian approach by the
scientists. They know policy framers will act on when these “known knowns” are
connected with probable risks. The only issue with all the reports of IPCC discussed so
far is that they present shy estimates and want leaders to focus on solutions on problems
that can be agreed upon. They don’t bring in “unknown unknowns” and thereby don’t
present the complete picture on climate change.
International Law Commission in its report Fragmentation of International Law:
Difficulties Arising from the Diversification and Expansion of International Law102
mentions the issues of fragmentation and implementation in entire international law. The
report mentions three types of fragmentation in international law that hinders correct
implementation of law; these are- fragmentation in the interpretation, fragmentation
between general and special law and fragmentation between contrasting special laws.
This report provide basis for assessing the international climate change law against the
stated set-up. The report also compares self-contained international laws against general
101
IPCC (2014), Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability Contribution of Working
Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, New York,
Cambridge University Press, available at: http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/report/final-drafts/ (last visited on Aug
2, 2018).
102
International Law Commission, Fragmentation of International Law: Difficulties Arising from the
Diversification and Expansion of International Law UN General Assembly A/CN.4/L.682 (13 April, 2006).

33
principles of international law. The structure was provided by the book for chapter 3 of
the thesis.

1.7 PLAN OF STUDY

The research has been divided into six interlinking chapters so as to present the holistic
picture of the issue. The division of chapters is as follows:
Chapter 1- Introduction- it is basic chapter that introduces the readers to the topic and
briefs about problems in relation to the topic, the purpose and object of the research and
the research questions to which answers are sort. Apart from that the chapter contains
review of literature, research methodology and plan of study.
Chapter 2- Right based Approach and Climate Justice- This chapter explains why the
climate change is a justice issue. An effort has been made to relate climate change to
morals and ethics. Through the effort of chalking out moral dilemma involved in the
debate, it highlights the human rights affected by this justice issue. After making the case
of climate justice, the chapter takes the journey to the climate justice movement.
Chapter 3- Legal Framework and Challenges in addressing Climate Injustices: An
International Perspective- This chapter is an attempt to lay down the international law
and policies on climate change precisely. The initial part of the chapter explains how
different source of international law had affected the climate change issue. The different
conventions beginning from Stockholm to Paris Agreement under the framework of
UNFCCC have been discussed in detail. In later portion, different challenges involved in
the climate diplomacy have been highlighted. The attempt has been made to link the
drawbacks to the ethical debate discussed in chapter 2.
Chapter 4- Constitutional and Legal Framework and Challenges in addressing
Climate Injustices: An Indian Perspective- This chapter studies in detail the Indian
legal regime on climate change. This chapter discusses the policy of India on
environment and ecosystem in Ancient India, Medieval India, Pre independent India and
Post Independent India. Therefore, the researcher finds striking differences between these
times and how the law evolved on the issue. In the later part of this chapter, the
challenges the Indian government faces and will face in fulfilling its commitments have

34
been discussed. The entire debate in this chapter is based on the concept of
“environmental rule of law”.
Chapter 5- The Case for Climate Refugees- A Human Rights Issue (Based on Case
Studies of Kiribati, Nauru, Bangladesh and India) - As the title of the thesis shows,
the project is involving two core issue at the root of climate change debate- one is climate
injustice (already being taken up in chapter 2, 3 and 4) and the second is issue of climate
refugees. The climate refugee issue is discussed in this chapter by taking queue for
human rights perspective explained in chapter 2. This initial part of the chapter presents a
case study briefing on migration and displacement crisis currently visible in four
countries and then links them to climate change. The second part of the chapter brings the
human rights debate into the issue. Then third and fourth part the detailed analysis is done
regarding the international and national efforts and flaws in dealing with the climate
refugee problem.
Chapter 6- Conclusion and Suggestions- This chapter makes concluding remarks on all
the subjects taken up in the research and thereby attempts to provide important
suggestions that can guide further policymakers on the issue.
Through this research an effort is made to link climate change to broader moral and
ethical debate. This would further guide the behaviour of individual, community, state,
country and international bodies. The researcher by clearly stating that climate change is
real and most defining challenge of 21st century makes demands for an urgent action. The
rising water levels have reached up to the levels of our nose (figuratively) and optimistic
assurances are now mere lip service. It is high time that all are educated about the climate
change in an objective manner and efforts are taken at all levels but most importantly at
government organizational level.

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