Exploring the Legal Framework of Climate Migration in Latin America

Abstract

This chapter explores the climate migration phenomenon and its legal framework in Latin America, studying some of its possible drivers and how these have a notable incidence in the global south. The chapter is centered on the Latin American region, providing a panorama of the geographical characteristics that make it particularly vulnerable to natural disasters and climate-related events, being these drivers of climate migration. The chapter also gives a view of the social, economic, and political conditions that make Latin America more susceptible to suffering human rights violations, which has an impact on the capacity of the countries to protect climate migrants and adds to the vulnerability of the region. The chapter also links this phenomenon to the existing legal framework, starting from the international instruments to later approach the domestic legislation and developments of the Latin American countries, revealing the lack of a harmonized regional instrument to protect climate migrants.