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Conceptualizing discourses on environmental refugees at the United Nations

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Abstract

This paper conceptualizes the absence of multilateral protection for environmental refugees. It does this by critically scrutinizing interviews conducted with United Nations ambassadors and senior diplomats in 2004 (n = 45) in a number of key policy-making locations. These interviews reveal that an absence of policy on environmental refugees has been reproduced by discursive politics at the United Nations. The reasons for which are explored here in this paper, and include shifting attitudes towards the role of multilateralism and environmental issues generally.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my supervisor, Associate Professor Chris Gibson, for his invaluable and ongoing guidance and assistance, and to Associate Professor Kevin Dunn who provided helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. I am also indebted to those that I interviewed as part of this research in 2004 for their time, input and insights.

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  1. School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Karen Elizabeth McNamara

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  1. Karen Elizabeth McNamara
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Correspondence to Karen Elizabeth McNamara.

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McNamara, K.E. Conceptualizing discourses on environmental refugees at the United Nations. Popul Environ 29, 12–24 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-007-0058-1

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