AHMR African Human Mobilty Review - Volume 8 No 3, SEP-DEC 2022 including those who are displaced due to climate change, which this article will now turn to discuss. III. STATELESSNESS ASSOCIATED WITH PERMANENT CROSS-BORDER DISPLACEMENT DUE TO THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE For the last three decades, since the 1980s, global pollution, and the need to protect the environment have been raised as significant concerns.37 For that reason, the international community has resolved that concerted efforts are needed to regulate how states may use the resources in their territories. In light of this, there are global calls for environmental protection to mitigate the impacts of climate change.38 Climate change can lead to displacement in one of several ways — through the total inundation of low-lying island states; through designation by the relevant government of an area as a high-risk zone, unfit for human habitation; and through rapid- or slow-onset disasters or weather events.39 Furthermore, while displacement is often thought of as being linked to conflict, there are times when that conflict is itself a result of climate change.40 In each of these scenarios, displacement may be internal or across borders, temporary or permanent, and in the end, can lead to statelessness. Strauss et al. state that future carbon emissions will determine which areas we can continue to occupy or may have to abandon.41 Even with climate change mitigation and more stable global temperatures, the land area and population exposed to additional sea-level rise are likely to continue increasing for centuries.42 Therefore, climate change adaptation is still required, since population mobility is inevitable and is among the factors through which statelessness can be created. For See, for example, the Montreal Protocol of 1987 that binds the Member States of the United Nations to act in the interests of human safety even in the face of scientific uncertainty. Also, the Rio Conventions — the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of 1992, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) of 1994 (a legally binding treaty that was adopted to address desertification and the effects of drought, it focuses on the protection and restoration of land to ensure a safer, just and sustainable future), and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) of 1992. The Rio Conventions were all adopted to address the need for adaptation to climate change. For example, the UNFCCC has been considered as an important international environmental treaty that aims to combat dangerous human activities or interference with the climate system. This includes the recognition of enhanced action and international cooperation on adaptation that is required. In view of this, States Parties to the UNFCCC established the Cancun Adaptation Framework in 2010 to guide the implementation of, and support for such adaptation. Subsequently, at the 2011 Durban Summit, States Parties advanced the implementation of the Cancun Adaptation Framework by operationalising various components and reinforcing a long-term commitment to adaptation action in line with the objectives of the UNFCCC. The Kyoto Protocol of 1997 extended the commitment of the States Parties to the UNFCCC to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. 38 In legal terms, there were no limitations placed under customary international law to determine and control the effects of pollution. Globally, declarations, conventions and treaties were adopted to combat global warming, as stated under the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development Goals of 2015, as well as the 2015 Paris Agreement to Combat Climate Change. 39 Walter Kälin ‘Conceptualising climate-induced displacement’ in Jane McAdam (ed) Climate Change and Displacement (2012) at 85. 40 Ibid. at 86. 41 Benjamin H Strauss, Scott Kulp & Anders Levermann ‘Carbon choices determine US cities committed to futures below sea level’ (2015) 112 PNAS 13508–13. 42 Celia McMichael, Shouro Dasgupta, Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson & Ilan Kelman ‘A review of estimating population exposure to sea-level rise and the relevance for migration’ (2020) 15 Environmental Research Letters at 21. 37 100