The Ethical Implications of Sea Level Rise Due to Climate Change

Abstract

Does humanity have a moral obligation toward the estimated millions of individuals who will be displaced from their homes over the course of this century primarily due to sea-level rise (SLR) as the earth’s climate warms? If there are indeed sound reasons for the world to act on their behalf, what form should these actions take? In this paper, we try to develop the ethical basis for the international community, first, to recognize that displaced persons, and in particular those whose nation-states will have become physically nonexistent or will face an unendurable burden, should have a special right to free movement to other countries; and, second, to formulate institutional means for providing them political, social, and economic rights. The fairest solution, we propose, is for the international community to grant, in the first instance, the individual right to migrate to safe countries for those who will be displaced forcibly by SLR. We then recommend that an international treaty begin to address this issue so that climate migrants and future exiles will be able to find homes well in advance of the actual emergency.

Keywords: sea-level rise, climate refugees, climate exiles, migration