Publication
On the Term ‘Environmental Refugee’: Normative Assumptions and Empirical Realities
In this article, the authors aim to contrast assumptions regarding the normative utility of the term ‘environmental refugee’ and compare those assumptions to empirical findings regarding the comparative valence of that term in contrast to ‘environmental migrant’.
- Author
- Matthew Hoye, Gustaf Hednäs, Michael Rowland, Umang Sodhi, and Jaroslaw Kantorowicz
- Date
- 05 February 2024
- Links
- Read the full article here
This article aims to contrast assumptions regarding the normative utility of the term ‘environmental refugee’ and compare those assumptions to our empirical findings regarding the comparative valence of that term in contrast to ‘environmental migrant’.
The findings significantly undermine the assumption that ‘environmental refugee’ is normatively persuasive outside activists and academic circles. The authors demonstrate that using ‘environmental refugees’ frames compared to ‘environmental migrants’ does not increase the urgency of the climate migration problem in the eyes of the public, and as our results show, such frames may slightly lower perceptions of urgency. There is no discernible and presumed difference in public opinion between the terms ‘environmental migrant’ and ‘environmental refugees’. The implication is that the public in the UK and the Netherlands generally do not consider the nuanced differences between the terms ‘environmental refugees’ and ‘environmental migrants, as argued by activists and proponents of the ‘refugees’ labels.
These findings highlight two puzzles, both of which deserve further research. First, there is a seeming disconnect between the societal understanding of the two terms and the academic understanding of the same. The assumption of ‘environmental refugees’ having more support than ‘environmental migrants’ remains unfounded. Second, the findings contrast with a previous study regarding the social perception of ‘refugee’ and ‘immigrant’ in general, without the environmental specification.