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Abstract:
Given a certain pre-existing commitment to sea-level rise due to the long thermal lags of the ocean system, several million people living in coastal areas and small islands will inevitably be displaced by the middle of the century. These climate exiles will have nowhere to go. Rather than deal with this in an ad hoc manner as the problem arises, the authors propose a mechanism by which these exiles would be given immigration benefits by countries through a formula that ties numbers of immigrants to a country's historical greenhouse gas emissions. Such a compensatory mechanism appears to be a fair way of addressing the problems faced by climate exiles.

Climate-change, Sea-level rise, Immigration, Adaptation, Climate justice, migration

Abstract:
In this paper, we focus on an especially important set of social impacts resulting from climate change in South Asia, namely the potential displacement of vast numbers of people as a consequence mainly of sea level rise along the coasts and secondarily from drought in rural areas. We examine these impacts through the use of scenarios involving alternative assumptions about whether or not effective policies will be developed in time, given what we know now about the physical changes that are likely to take place. The climate crisis that is likely to unfold in South Asia will create profound challenges. With a 5-metre sea level rise, there will be about 125 million climate migrants in this region alone with little or no legal standing under current international law. In fact the 75 million or so from Bangladesh will be especially vulnerable, as their entire nation-state becomes non-viable as an entity, with most of its land inundated and its economy defunct.

sea level rise, migration, South Asia, climate change

Abstract:
The expansion of DNA databases in the United States, Europe and a few other countries to include not just convicted felons but arrestees, who might be innocent, raises a number of civil rights concerns. This paper explores how the use of DNA typing in forensics and immigration, given the current climate of fear, in the quest for a safer world, could legitimize discrimination and give rise to a new apartheid.

criminal justice, DNA database, immigration, race, discrimination, genetic surveillance

Abstract:
To understand how gender, women's rights and citizenship intersect with innovation in South Asia, one must begin by considering some of the main features of life for South Asian women, about a half of whom are illiterate. This report looks at 'innovation' in the specific context of knowledge - generation of, access to and utilisation of it - and the progressive economic and social changes that go with it. The reason why women are perceived to be absent as innovators and entrepreneurs has mainly to do with the way innovation is evaluated; who is asking the question and of whom; whether women's innovations are acknowledged; the innumerable number of barriers they face to their participation; which sectors women have had access to and which are closed. The report recommends how women's roles as innovators can be improved in the specific context of the development challenges of South Asia.

innovation, South Asia, gender, development, women