Read the full article Climate Change ‘Refugees’ and International Law
Featured in Gilbert and Tobin's July Newsletter

The past six months has been a busy time for the ‘Climate Change “Refugees” and International Law’ project, and its growing prominence has led toa number of invitations and opportunities.

The Project Director, Jane McAdam, was fortunate to receive some funding from the UNSW Law Faculty to conduct field work in the Pacific island nations of Kiribati and Tuvalu in November this year.

This will help her to obtain a first-hand, informed understanding of the impacts of climate change on vulnerable nations, including its day-to-day effects on affected populations, and how these translate into rights at risk in international law terms.

She plans  to speak with local NGOs and government officials about the way they perceive climate change impacting on their communities, whether they view migration/protection as an adaptation strategy, and how they would ideally see this implemented.

Jane was invited to join the Steering Committee of Green Cross Australia’s ‘Sea-Level Rise: A People’s Assembly’, along with Tim Costello (Chief Executive, World Vision), Julian Burnside QC, Prof Jan McDonald (Griffith University), Dr Andrew Ash (CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems), Prof Ian Lowe AO (President, Australian Conservation Foundation), Tony Coleman (Chief Risk Officer, IAG), and Prof Paul Hardisty (WorleyParsons)

The People’s Assembly is a project involving 14 Australian citizens in a Europeanstyle ‘consensus conference’. Following intensive briefings and research sessions with experts from law, science, business, security and environmental fields, the citizens’ panel will deliver a ‘verdict’ on how Australia should tackle the issue of sea-level  rise and displacement in the Asia-Pacific region.

Jane’s research has formed a core part of the People’s Assembly background briefing workshops, at which she has also presented, and she will also deliver a public lecture at the conference at which the group’s recommendations will be presented (as part of the Brisbane Riverfestival in August). 

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