he complex causation of migration decisions makes it difficult to identify exclusive reasons and responsibilities for environmental migration. Thus a definition of environmental refuges has to go further than a dichotomous distinction between forced environmental migration (whether slow or sudden onset) on the one hand and migration seeking exclusively economic opportunities on the other hand. One has to take a closer look at the resources, options and objectives of migration in order to evaluate the part migration can play in improving living conditions of people affected by environmental change. We demonstrate that different situations of environmental migration require different forms of global action as individual rights are threatened in different ways and require different forms of protection to be effective.
