Justice for Climate Refugees: what do we owe to communities displaced by climate change?

气候变化对我们共同的未来构成了最大的政治和道德挑战。随着海平面上升将淹没几个主权小岛国，以及从雅加达到纽约的主要城市，我们现在必须考虑，对那些因气候变化而流离失所的人，我们欠他们什么，欠谁什么。特别是那些整个土地都被海平面上升摧毁的社区，这在很大程度上不是他们自己的错。基里巴斯、图瓦卢和法属波利尼西亚等岛国预计将在下个世纪几乎完全被淹没。那么，伦理告诉我们，国际社会对这些社区有什么亏欠，如果确实有亏欠的话？因此，我建议建立和扩展我的MSc在难民和被迫迁移研究论文的工作。我希望我能够继续在马修·吉布尼教授的指导下进行这篇论文，他已经同意如果我被录取的话。这篇论文考虑是否欠赔偿气候难民因海平面上升而流离失所。在我即将获得的博士学位中，我希望扩展这篇论文的工作，关注气候难民的正义问题，特别是那些因海平面上升而流离失所的整个社区。这将主要是一本政治理论和伦理学的著作，在哲学和政治科学的交叉点上工作。我希望讨论并回答以下问题：什么是“气候难民”？他们应该得到联合国难民署的保护吗？因海平面上升而流离失所的“气候难民”群体是否应该为此损失得到补偿或隔离？谁欠气候难民补偿或赔偿？建造岛屿的政策是道德上可以接受的解决气候迁移问题的方法吗？有哪些可供选择的政策——无论是现存的还是假设的——可能为气候迁移问题提供道德上可接受的答案？”

Climate change poses the biggest political and ethical challenge for our shared future. With sea-level rise set to submerge several sovereign small island states, along with major cities from Jakarta to New York, we must now consider what is owed, and by whom, to those who are displaced by climate change. In particular, what is owed to communities whose entire land has been destroyed by sea-level rise, largely through no fault of their own. Island states such as Kiribati, Tuvalu, and French Polynesia are predicted to be almost entirely submerged within the coming century. So what does ethics tell us is owed to these communities by the international community, if indeed anything at all?I therefore propose to build upon and extend the work of my MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies dissertation. I hope that I will be able to undertake this thesis under the continued supervision of Professor Matthew Gibney, who has agreed to do so should I be admitted. This dissertation considered whether reparations are owed to climate refugees displaced by rising sea-levels. In my coming DPhil, I hope to extend the work of this thesis, looking at the question ofjustice for climate refugees, particularly for whole communities displaced by sea-level rise. This will primarily be a work of political theory and ethics, working at the intersection between philosophyand political science. I hope to discuss and answer questions such as:What are 'climate refugees'?Should they be given protection by UNHCR?Are communities of 'climate refugees' displaced by rising sea-levels owed compensation or eparation for this loss?Who owes compensation or reparation to climate refugees?Is the policy of island building a morally acceptable answer to the problem of climate displacement?What alternative policies - both extant and hypothetical - might provide morally acceptable answers to the problem of climate displacement?"