Ecological displacement and structural injustice: rethinking protection in a collapsing world
As the climate crisis intensifies, ecological degradation is rendering large areas of the planet increasingly uninhabitable. This slow-onset emergency is producing widespread displacement – millions forced from their homes by rising seas, extreme weather, and environmental collapse. Yet those displa...
| Subtitles: | 20th Anniversary Forum |
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| Authors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Journal of global ethics
Year: 2025, Volume: 21, Issue: 1, Pages: 77-84 |
| Further subjects: | B
Structural Violence
B Environmental Justice B ecologically displaced people B global north B Climate displacement B climate migration |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | As the climate crisis intensifies, ecological degradation is rendering large areas of the planet increasingly uninhabitable. This slow-onset emergency is producing widespread displacement – millions forced from their homes by rising seas, extreme weather, and environmental collapse. Yet those displaced often remain excluded from formal legal protections, and the countries most responsible for climate change are frequently the least willing to accept them. This paper argues that existing legal definitions – such as ‘refugee’ or ‘migrant’ – fail to capture the structural violence and involuntary nature of climate displacement, allowing states to avoid responsibility under the veneer of legal neutrality. In response, the paper proposes a justice-based framework for ecological displacement, grounded in both immediate humanitarian need and long-term historical culpability. It critiques dominant adaptation and resilience narratives for masking inequality, and instead calls for enforceable protections, equitable migration pathways, and binding commitments from the Global North. Drawing from philosophical, legal, and environmental justice traditions, it reframes climate displacement not as a technical challenge, but as a moral and political crisis requiring structural transformation. |
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| ISSN: | 1744-9634 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of global ethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/17449626.2025.2503878 |
