Internal Climate Displacement and Territorial Justice

Abstract

Abstract This chapter develops an account of internal displacement based on territorial justice. It argues that the aim of territorial justice is to constitute a certain globally recognized status, the status of being an equal common possessor of the earth. As a common possessor, every inhabitant of the globe has a claim to a ‘place’ in the world where she can access minimally just material conditions and political institutions (basic justice); securely pursue her located social, cultural, and economic practices (occupancy); and exercise political self-determination in common with others (self-determination). By shrinking the supply, and changing the character, of the world’s habitable spaces through their carbon emissions, industrialized states are threatening occupancy, basic justice, and self-determination for people in other regions of the world. The author argues that the current internally displaced persons (IDPs) regime is too limited to justly address climate displacement and she concludes by considering what would be required to supplement this regime in order to secure territorial justice.