Climate breakdown and forced migration are closely linked. RLS is at the start of its journey considering what this means for our work.

We’ve recently established a Climate Emergency Working Group to bring together RLS colleagues and trustees. The group is chaired by external expert, Emily Rowe, a human rights lawyer with a particular interest in the asylum/climate intersection.

Emily’s associated studies have included the Oxford School of Climate Change and the International School on Climate Mobilities run by Earth Refuge and SOAS. This has led to her being a panellist at several conferences, including earlier this year at a Symposium on Climate Change and Migration hosted by Trinity College Dublin on the topic of Transforming Climate: Transforming Legal Protections.

The RLS Climate Emergency Working Group meets regularly to develop our understanding of the connection between climate breakdown and migration. We explore how this impacts the work that we do now, and in the future. 

Emily says: “humanity’s impact on the earth is now so profound that the time we live in has been called the Anthropocene. Climate related displacement is on the rise, and it’s set to be one of the biggest challenges of our era. As more climate-related disasters occur, more people are being forced to leave their home.”

“We’ve started to develop an action plan, we’ve shared learning and resources, and we’ve engaged in collaborative activity. For example, we’re founding members of the Immigration Climate Collective. This is a newly established group who are starting to consider how to integrate a climate element into immigration practice in the UK. There are plans for a roundtable and training on this topic in the coming months.”

Emily will be attending CoP 29 in Baku in November, and looks forward to building on this activity there. 

We’ll continue sharing updates from the Climate Emergency Working Group as we make progress in addressing this important issue for people on the move.  

Photo credit: bookerphotos