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LET'S CEE Film Festival Katalog 2017

Official Catalogue of the LET'S CEE Film Festival 2017

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1.2 Who are environmental refugees?<br />

The link between environmental problems and migration is obvious, because it is conveyed<br />

at first hand by shocking images of people fleeing floods, for example. Yet the connections<br />

are indeed very complex. Overall, the reasons why people have to leave their familiar surroundings<br />

and become refugees involve a mixture of political, social, cultural or religious factors.<br />

Often, of course, environmental problems also play an important role. However, the<br />

triggering "push factors" cannot be reduced to a single reason.<br />

Among the refugees and migrant workers, there are of course also people who have had to<br />

leave their homes because of environmental damage. But what should we call them now?<br />

Water refugees, climate refugees, climate migrants, environmental refugees, environmental<br />

migration, climate-induced migration – these are just some of the terms that come up in this<br />

context. There is no uniform interpretation or even internationally recognized definition.<br />

Some experts advocate replacing the indeed woolly and misleading term "environmental refugees"<br />

with "disaster refugees". But even this term leads to misunderstandings, because not<br />

all people who fall into this category have to leave their homes because of disasters such as<br />

volcanic eruptions or floods. No wonder, then, that there is no reliable data on environmentally<br />

induced flight, in contrast to labor migrants and "UNHCR refugees". The term "environmental<br />

refugees" was introduced in 1985 by the natural scientist Essam El-Hinnawi in his report<br />

for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).<br />

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