forced migration

CLIMATE CHANGE, FORCED MIGRATION, AND INTERNATIONAL LAW A book by Jane McAdam (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012)

Demola Okeowo*

OVERVIEW

The book Climate Change, Forced Migration, and International Law is an authoritative compendium of the real issues in discourse on climate change related movement and its implications in international law. Prior to reading this book, I had read a lot of articles and stories on blogs, which have exaggerated the issue of ‘climate change refugees’. Some of the articles went to the extent of saying that some States will in fact disappear completely at the end of a given time if nothing drastic is done about climate change.1 Professor McAdam describes these authors as ‘alarmists’.2


* LL.B, BL (Nigeria), LL.M (Groningen, The Netherlands), LL.M (Queen’s, Canada), Doctoral Student, Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia, Canada. I am grateful to Professor Benjamin Richardson of the Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia, Canada who recommended the book under review to me

1 Ajay Chhibber, “Statements at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting” UNDP Cairns Convention Centre, (6 August, 2009).

2 Jane McAdam, Climate Change, Forced Migration, and International Law (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012) 26.