Bogumil Terminski Environmentally-Induced Displacement ... - Cedem

of the problem is to adopt a convention providing protection to peopledisplaced by changing environmental conditions. As Falstrom noted:Only through a new set of provisions, outlined in a separate *30 documentand based on the recognized international legal protections and obligationsoutlined in existing international human rights law and internationalenvironmental law, can the international community truly hope to address thisrapidly growing problem and stem the tide of environmentally displacedpersons 73 .An interesting definition of “environmentally displaced persons” has also beenproposed by the French Centre International de Droit Comparé del’Environnement (C.I.D.C.E.), in a text regarding Draft Convention on theStatus of Environmentally-Displaced Persons. Pursuant to this document,environmentally displaced persons are “individuals, families, and populationsconfronted with a sudden or gradual environmental disaster that inexorablyimpacts their living conditions, resulting in their forced displacement, at theoutset or throughout, from their habitual residence”. 74 In a working paperprepared in 2007, Gemenne, Dun, and Stojanov suggested to distinguishamong three subcategories of Environmentally Displaced Persons: 1)Environmental migrants, 2) Environmental displaces, and 3) Developmentdisplacees. 75Luc Hens, an author of several reports on Ghana’s environmental problemsclaims that “environmentally displaced person is someone who decides toleave his/her homeplace permanently or temporarily, mainly for reasons ofenvironmental degradation. A refugee is somebody who, during thisdisplacement, crosses national borders” 76 . Ghana is a fascinating example ofcoexistence of environmentally induced migrants (coming from the North tothe coast and the capital of Accra), development-induced displacees (due to73D.Z. Falstrom, „Stemming the flow of environmental displacement: Creating a convention to protect personsand preserve the environment”, Colorado Journal of Environmental Law and Policy, vol. 15, 2001, p. 1-20.74See: http://www.cidce.org/.75O. Dun, F. Gemenne, R. Stojanov, Environmentally Displaced Persons. Working Definitions For The Each-ForProject, 11 October 2007, p. 1.76L. Hens, Intitutional, Legal and Economic Instruments in Ghana’s Environmental Policy, Research Paper,Vrije Universiteit Brussels, 1999.