I was pleasantly surprised and inspired by this passionate letter that arrived in my mailbox about the issue of Climate Refugees and what the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR ) needs to do to help migrants affected by Climate Change.

It’s by Atulya Venkataraman, a fifth grade student of United World College of South East Asia, Singapore. It reads thus:

“Dear Madam,

Please allow me to introduce myself as a student in Grade 5 at United World College of South East Asia, Singapore. We are currently studying climate change and its impact on communities. My friend Jun Oh Koo (Korea) and I are collaborating on a project to present at our school exhibition on 25th May.

While we as a civilization are working to prevent climate change and avoid catastrophes, we must prepare for calamities. There is a significant danger — many islands such as Vanuatu in the Pacific, Maldives in the Indian Ocean, coastal areas of India and Bangladesh will be greatly affected and perhaps even disappear under the sea. This would displace large segments of population living in these areas. Many of these people are already among the weakest in an economic sense.

These displaced populations will have nowhere to go and will become refugees, similar to the refugees of a war. Currently the definition of refugees under the UNHCR is that a refugee is a person who “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.” (From the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees)

It is important to notice that people who have lost their homes, their livelihoods and just about everything are a group of people who are not covered under this definition. To paraphrase Socrates, I am neither a Greek nor an Athenian; but, a citizen of the world.

As such I believe it is my humble duty to propose that the definition of refugees as defined by the UNHCR be changed to include people displaced by climate change. Perhaps greater minds are already dealing with this issue and I am only adding my voice in support of these great minds. This small step will provide a giant leap of relief for millions who will unwittingly be born refugees 50 years from now.

In 2050, when I am 61, I do not know what the world will be like; but, Madam, as an 11- year old today if I can get you to address this issue, my life might not be entirely wasted in playing video games rather than doing my school work as my mother always reminds me.

Sincerely,

Atulya Venkataraman

Activist, Climate Refugees”

My reply to Atulya:

“Dear Atulya,

Thank you for your letter. It shows an impressive level of maturity for one as young as you.

Trust me, your life will never be wasted, given the care and concern you show for people, especially the vulnerable. Your letter indicates that you are way ahead of those three or four or even five times your age, who are too busy with their own lives to create a positive change for the world.

Your suggestion is extremely powerful. The mere act of including climate refugees in the UNHCR definition would give the much needed attention and focus to this issue. Unfortunately, the “great minds” (borrowing your words) are dragging their feet on this important change that needs to be incorporated in the way we look at climate refugees and prepare well in advance before calamity strikes.

So far, the official UNHCR position as quoted in their magazine is, ”While agreeing that the refugee agency was already involved in a limited way in environmental issues and helping internally displaced persons, UNHCR said there were fundamental differences between the two groups. Refugees could not turn to their own governments for protection because states were often the source of persecution and they therefore needed international assistance, it said, whereas environmental migrants continue to enjoy the same national protection whatever the state of the landscape. Lumping both groups under the same heading would further cloud the issues and could undermine efforts to help and protect either group and to address the root causes of either type.”

However “national protection” is not going to be very helpful, because most of the environmental migrants are from developing countries, which do not have the resources to manage this kind of large scale migration, even if most of it is internal. These countries do not contribute to much of the global climate change, which is largely due to consumption by richer, developed nations. It is only fair that more is done to help these countries with adaptation efforts.

More people need to come forward to press for this amendment in the UNHCR definition, so yes, I am forwarding this letter with a copy to you to the UNHCR, and am also broadcasting this message through the UNHCR facebook page, Twitter and LinkedIn. I hope many people will see your message and also support this issue.

If you need any help or clarifications, let me know.

Do send us pictures of your exhibitions, and some of your write-ups and findings. I’ll be happy to post them in a blog for you.

Thank you once again. Keep up the good work!

Warm wishes,

Bhavani Prakash

This article is reprinted from http://www.ecowalkthetalk.com/blog/2010/05/21/climate-refugees-a-letter-for-unhcr-from-a-grade-five-student/