IMPACT OF RISING SEA LEVELS ON GLOBAL MIGRATION & REFUGEE CRISES

AUTHOR – ADV. TUSHAR MISHRA, B.A LL.B (HONS.), LL.M.( MARITIME LAW ), RASHTRIYA RAKSHA UNIVERSITY, GANDHINAGAR GUJARAT

BEST CITATION – ADV. TUSHAR MISHRA, IMPACT OF RISING SEA LEVELS ON GLOBAL MIGRATION & REFUGEE CRISES, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 5 (8) OF 2025, PG. 1137-1144, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344

Abstract

The rise in sea levels caused by climate change is changing the world’s landscape and stimulating migration patterns. The relationship between sea-level rise and the increase in climate-induced migration, especially focusing on how an entire community is displaced into migration and refugee statuses. With increased sea levels, however, many nations face immense difficulties in taking on the double burdens of internally displaced persons and cross-border migrants without sufficient resources or policies to support climate change migration.

Currently, international refugee law does not provide any special protection to “climate refugees,” although regional and national laws have been set up as interim measures, which are limited in both scope and strength. The rising sea levels will make the low-lying coasts, small islands of the Pacific like Kiribati and Tuvalu, and certain parts of Bangladesh the areas that will face a very dangerous threat, and people will have to move either internally or across borders. These migrations of people against their will raise very important questions about national and international policies, human rights, and the need for new legal frameworks because the existing refugee and human rights laws are not suitable to meet the climate refugees.

KEYWORDS: Climate change, Sea-level rise, Climate-induced migration, Refugee crises, Coastal communities, Environmental statelessness.