Amali Tower: What Climate Justice Takes

Over the past few years, flood, fire, and drought have forced more people to flee their homes than conflict or violence. Yet our existing refugee laws were written to protect people from harm inflicted by other humans, not by rising sea levels or drought. We lack the language and legal framework to protect these millions of people as refugees, which leaves them with limited options to turn to for safety.

When climate change forces people across borders, many find that their struggles don’t tick the right legal boxes. Often, they are turned back — with nothing to go back to. Those who don’t make it across an international border find themselves the “mere” internally displaced, with fewer avenues for support, food and housing.

Some of this is beginning to change. Countries and regions are signing agreements on how to address these increasing needs. Individual cases are establishing new precedents that gradually expand the options available for those who come after. And globally, the needle is moving, if slowly: during last year’s COP27 summit in Egypt, high-carbon-emitting countries agreed to compensate countries most impacted by climate change through a loss and damage fund, which will be established within the next three years. But it can be difficult to see the impact of these high-level changes on the lives of people displaced by climate change.

Amali Tower founded with the goal of securing the same rights and recognition for people displaced by climate disaster as for other refugees.