Umweltflüchtlinge?

In the near future more and more people will leave their original habitat because of environmental reasons, making it necessary to find long-term solutions. The phenomenon of so called „environmental refugees“ is carefully analysed, examining who can fall into this category. The protection of these people under universal and regional international refugee law is the focus of the following examination. Presenting a new model to distinguish different environmental causes of displacement, it is analysed to which extend people who cross a border or are internally displaced are covered by the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the OAU-Convention, the Cartagena-Declaration, as well as the Guiding Principles and the Kampala-Convention. It appears as though there is still no uniform or comprehensive solution. Moreover, it is necessary to closely identify which people are the focus of the discussion, because they can partly be protected as refugees or internally displaced persons.