Environmental Justice in the Age of Transnational Migration

Environmental justice and migration are two of the most pressing issues of our time – and they are deeply connected. When people are forced to leave their homes because of environmental degradation, they often land in places where they face new environmental hazards. Meanwhile, the communities most burdened by pollution, toxic waste, and climate impacts tend to be the same ones with the least political voice. Understanding where environmental justice and transnational migration intersect is essential for building fairer, healthier societies.

What is environmental justice? 🔗

At its core, environmental justice is about fairness. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has long defined environmental justice as the equitable treatment and meaningful participation of all people – regardless of race, colour, national origin, or income – in the creation and enforcement of environmental laws and policies. In practical terms, fair treatment means that no single group should shoulder a disproportionate share of negative environmental consequences, whether those stem from industrial operations, government decisions, or commercial activities.

Meaningful involvement is the other half of the equation. It means communities have genuine opportunities to participate in decisions that affect their environment and health, and that decision-makers actively seek out those voices. When both elements are in place, the result is a system where the benefits and burdens of environmental policy are shared equitably.

Where did the movement begin? 🔗

The environmental justice movement emerged in the United States during the 1980s, rooted in decades of civil rights activism and community mobilisation. Over time, it expanded well beyond American borders to address global patterns of inequality. Scholars such as David Schlosberg have identified three core pillars of environmental justice: fair distribution of environmental benefits and burdens, recognition of the cultural and historical experiences of marginalised groups, and procedural participation in environmental decision-making.

Today, the movement encompasses a wide range of concerns – from environmental racism (where communities of colour are systematically exposed to greater pollution) to climate justice, food sovereignty, and corporate accountability. These concepts all share a common thread: the people least responsible for environmental harm often bear its heaviest costs.

The disproportionate burden on marginalised communities 🔗

Research consistently shows that low-income communities, communities of colour, indigenous populations, and immigrant groups live closer to industrial sites, waste facilities, and other pollution sources. According to the American Public Health Association, these communities face higher rates of asthma, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and developmental disorders as a result of elevated environmental exposure. The threat of climate change only deepens these existing disparities.

This pattern is not coincidental. It arises from decades of discriminatory zoning, housing policy, and industrial siting decisions. When a polluting facility is proposed, public hearings and documentation are sometimes available only in English – a practice that effectively shuts out non-English-speaking residents from participating. Researchers have described this as linguistic isolation, a barrier that disproportionately affects immigrant communities already facing heightened environmental risks.

How transnational migration connects to environmental justice 🔗

Migration and environmental justice are linked in two major ways. First, environmental degradation itself drives people to migrate. Second, migrants who arrive in new countries frequently end up living in environmentally burdened areas with limited access to clean air, water, and safe housing.

Environmental degradation as a driver of migration 🔗

Climate change is reshaping where and how people can live. Droughts, flooding, rising sea levels, desertification, and extreme weather events destroy livelihoods and make entire regions uninhabitable. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has noted that climate change and displacement are increasingly interconnected, with worsening extreme weather contributing to overlapping crises that threaten human rights and increase poverty.

The International Organization for Migration categorises environmental migrants into three groups: those fleeing sudden disasters (such as floods or cyclones), those displaced by gradual environmental decline (like coastal erosion or deforestation), and those who relocate voluntarily as conditions worsen. In many parts of the Global South – particularly sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and small island developing states – these pressures are intensifying rapidly. Research published in npj Climate Action projects that by 2050, approximately 143 million people in the Global South may be displaced due to climate impacts.

The decision to migrate is rarely driven by a single cause. Economic hardship, political instability, conflict, and environmental stress often overlap. Droughts in Syria, for instance, contributed to internal displacement that preceded the civil war – but government policy failures, including cuts to rural subsidies and water access, were equally critical factors. This complexity makes it difficult to isolate a single “climate migrant” category, which is one reason international law still lacks a formal definition for the term.

Migrants facing environmental hazards in receiving countries 🔗

When migrants arrive in a new country, they frequently settle in areas characterised by high pollution and inadequate infrastructure. In the United States, studies have found that neighbourhoods with large immigrant populations – particularly Latinx communities – face significantly higher levels of exposure to industrial pollution compared to predominantly white areas. This results from racially biased urban planning and zoning decisions that concentrate hazardous facilities in low-income and minority neighbourhoods.

A particularly stark example involves immigrant detention facilities. Research by David Pellow and Jasmine Vazin at the University of California, Santa Barbara, documents that many U.S. detention centres are located near contaminated sites and are marked by harmful conditions, including exposure to pollutants, unhealthy food services, and substandard building quality. The detainees – overwhelmingly people of colour and undocumented immigrants – face cumulative health risks that constitute clear cases of environmental injustice.

Beyond detention, immigrant workers in agriculture, construction, and waste management are routinely exposed to pesticides, extreme heat, and hazardous materials, often with little regulatory protection. Language barriers, fear of deportation, and limited access to legal aid prevent many from advocating for safer conditions.

The global dimension: who pollutes, who pays 🔗

Environmental justice has a significant transnational dimension. Wealthier nations in the Global North consume a vastly disproportionate share of the world’s resources. As noted by the Reimagine initiative, the United States alone, with less than five percent of the world’s population, consumes more than 35 percent of global energy and natural resources. The environmental consequences of that consumption – resource extraction, industrial waste, carbon emissions – are disproportionately borne by communities in the Global South.

This dynamic creates what scholars call transnational environmental inequality. Communities in developing countries face pollution and displacement driven by global demand, while the profits flow elsewhere. Oil extraction in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, mining operations in Latin America, and electronic waste dumping in West Africa are all examples of how marginalised communities in the Global South absorb environmental costs generated by consumption patterns in richer nations.

When environmental destruction renders a region unliveable and its residents migrate, they carry the burden across borders – only to face new environmental hazards at their destination. This cycle reinforces existing global inequalities and raises fundamental questions about responsibility and justice.

Case studies: where migration meets environmental injustice 🔗

Small island developing states and rising seas 🔗

Nations like Kiribati, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu face an existential threat from sea-level rise. These countries contribute negligibly to global carbon emissions, yet they are among the first to face the possibility of losing their entire territory. The government of Kiribati has advocated for its citizens’ right to migrate with dignity – a concept that seeks to protect cultural identity and sovereignty even as physical homeland disappears. Some island nations have begun exploring digital preservation of national identity, including virtual platforms to maintain cultural continuity for dispersed populations.

South Asia: floods, drought, and displacement 🔗

In 2022, catastrophic flooding in Pakistan submerged a third of the country, displacing around eight million people, including thousands of Afghan refugees already living in precarious conditions. Bangladesh faces similar pressures: saltwater intrusion, riverbank erosion, and intensifying cyclones push millions toward urban centres where they encounter crowded, polluted conditions with minimal services. These movements are largely internal, but they place immense strain on receiving communities and create new pockets of environmental injustice within national borders.

Latin America: extraction and forced displacement 🔗

Across Latin America, mining and oil extraction operations have displaced indigenous and Afro-descendant communities from ancestral lands. In many cases, these operations are conducted by transnational corporations under concessions that local communities had no voice in granting. Peasant movements have responded by claiming rights to food sovereignty – the ability to control their own agricultural practices and food systems – as a form of resistance against both environmental destruction and economic marginalisation.

Strategies for promoting environmental justice in the context of migration 🔗

Inclusive policy-making 🔗

One of the most effective ways to address environmental injustice is to ensure that affected communities – including migrants and refugees – have a seat at the table. This means translating public documents and hearings into relevant languages, removing barriers to civic participation for non-citizens, and actively consulting communities before siting industrial or waste facilities. The EPA’s Environmental Justice Strategic Plan emphasises embedding equity into all federal environmental programmes and pursuing a whole-of-government approach to protect overburdened communities.

Legal recognition for climate-displaced people 🔗

Current international law does not recognise “climate refugees” as a legal category. The 1951 Refugee Convention was designed for people fleeing political persecution, not environmental catastrophe. Expanding legal protections – or creating new frameworks – for people displaced by climate change is a critical step. New Zealand’s experimental climate visa scheme for Pacific Islanders and regional agreements in Africa and Latin America represent early efforts, but far more is needed.

Cross-movement solidarity 🔗

Environmental justice organisations and immigrant rights groups increasingly recognise their shared interests. As the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) has argued, the success of each movement depends on working in solidarity with the other. When environmental advocates also fight for immigrant rights – and vice versa – both movements gain strength and reach. Building coalitions across these lines is not just principled; it is strategic.

Climate adaptation and investment 🔗

Reducing the need for climate-driven migration requires substantial investment in adaptation, particularly in the most vulnerable regions. This includes resilient infrastructure, drought-resistant agriculture, early warning systems, and equitable access to water and energy. Developed nations, as the largest historical emitters, have a responsibility to fund these efforts in the Global South – a commitment made under the Paris Agreement but far from fully realised.

Community-led solutions 🔗

Some of the most effective responses come from affected communities themselves. In the Philippines, organisations like the Homeless People Federation have used community-driven approaches – including securing land tenure, upgrading housing, and building disaster preparedness – to reduce displacement and strengthen local resilience. These grassroots models demonstrate that when communities lead, solutions are more durable and equitable.

Why this matters now 🔗

Climate change is accelerating. Migration patterns are shifting. And the communities caught in between – those displaced by environmental destruction and those living in polluted neighbourhoods in receiving countries – deserve both protection and a voice. Environmental justice is not an abstract principle. It is a practical framework for ensuring that the costs and benefits of environmental policy are shared fairly, that no community is sacrificed for another’s prosperity, and that the people closest to the problem are closest to the solution.

Addressing environmental injustice in the context of migration requires action at every level: local communities organising for cleaner neighbourhoods, national governments reforming zoning and immigration laws, and international institutions creating legal pathways for climate-displaced people. None of this is simple, but all of it is necessary.

What do you think? Should international law formally recognise climate-displaced people as refugees entitled to legal protection? And how can communities in both sending and receiving countries work together to ensure that migrants are not pushed from one environmental injustice into another?

References

1. https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/learn-about-environmental-justice_.html
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_justice
3. https://www.apha.org/topics-and-issues/environmental-health/environmental-justice
4. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/14/3942
5. https://www.unhcr.org/what-we-do/build-better-futures/climate-change-and-displacement
6. https://www.nature.com/articles/s44168-024-00133-1
7. https://www.reimaginerpe.org/node/918
8. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016718520302335
9. https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-12/environmental-justice-strategic-plan-december-2024.pdf
10. https://www.no-burn.org/no-borders-there-is-no-environmental-justice-without-immigrant-justice/