Climate Change and Environmental Migration: International webinar with the participation of American, Georgian and German academia
On 15 November 2021 the Levan Alexidze Foundation in close cooperation with the International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) hosted the Migration Talks webinar ‘Climate Change and Environmental Migration’.
The international webinar featured Prof. David Favre from Michigan State University, as well as Ms. Camilla Schloss – a researcher with an academic interest in climate-related migration and also a judge at the Administrative Court of Berlin, in a discussion moderated by Prof. Dr. Ketevan Khutsishvili, Director of International Criminal Law Centre, established on the initiative of late Levan Alexidze of TSU and Dr. Saba Pipia, Associate Professor at GAU and the Fulbright Research Fellow in 2021.
The webinar, with participants from numerous countries, outlined the main features of climate change and the danger, global warming is posing to the planet and humankind. Particular focus was made on the risks of mass displacement due to the impact of climate change and other environmental disasters.
The distinguished speakers scrutinized various aspects of global climate policy and the applicability of refugee law to climate and environmental migrants. Emphasis was made on the definition of a refugee under international law in the prism of environmental forced displacement. It was discussed whether environmental migrant can be qualified as a refugee. The practice of various EU Member States’ domestic courts was also analyzed.
In the Question & Answer session, the panelists and participants discussed the risks climate change entails and whether international law can be interpreted in a manner that fits the current challenges of mass migration due to global warming and environmental disasters.
Throughout 2021, the Levan Alexidze Foundation and ICMPD have collaborated in a series of events promoting human rights and democratic standards, dedicated to the 95th jubilee of the founder of the International Law research and teaching in Georgia Professor Levan Alexidze, late Full Member of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences.
