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

气候变化是我们共同命运面临的最大政治和伦理挑战。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大城市，我们现在必须考虑，气候变化导致的流离失所者欠了什么，欠了谁。特别是，对那些整个土地被海平面上升摧毁的社区的欠款，主要不是他们自己的错造成的。据预测，基里巴斯、图瓦卢和法属波利尼西亚等岛国将在下个世纪内几乎完全被淹没。那么，伦理学告诉我们，国际社会对这些社区有什么亏欠，如果真的有的话？因此，我建议在我的难民和强迫移民研究硕士论文的基础上，扩展我的工作。我希望我能够在马修·吉布尼教授的持续监督下撰写这篇论文，他已经同意，如果我被录取，他会这样做。这篇论文考虑了是否应该向因海平面上升而流离失所的气候难民提供赔偿。在我即将到来的DPhil中，我希望扩展这篇论文的工作，着眼于气候难民的正义问题，特别是对因海平面上升而流离失所的整个社区的正义问题。这将主要是一部政治理论和伦理学的作品，工作在哲学和政治学的交叉点上。我希望讨论和回答这样的问题：什么是‘气候难民’？他们应该得到联合国难民事务高级专员公署的保护吗？因海平面上升而流离失所的‘气候难民’社区是否应该为这种损失提供赔偿或赔偿？谁应该向气候难民提供赔偿或赔偿？建造岛屿的政策是解决气候流离失所问题的道德上可接受的答案吗？现有的和假设的替代政策可能为气候流离失所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?"