Environmental change can force people to leave their home where they cannot live safely any longer. The on-going process of global warming together with a persisting global population growth indicates that the number of environmental refugees may increase tremendously over the next few decades. This alarming prospect puts pressure on questions regarding the duty to protect such individuals
We provide a normative basis and evaluate the legitimacy of different forms of political action to address the challenge of environmental migration. In particular, we discuss the options of excluding refugees, enabling migration, and eliminating the pressure to migrate. Drawing on cosmopolitan principles and the assigning responsibility model, it is argued that every legitimate political action requires an enormous extent of global action and coordination
