The EU’s Strategy to Tackle Environmentally Induced Migration while Protecting Human Security

Natural disasters have been increasing dramatically over the last thirty years thereby resulting in large groups of people being displaced within their countries or abroad. Against this background, the notion of human security and its implications in terms of political strategies play a relevant role. Indeed, environmentally-induced migration not only challenges individual human security, but may impact on the internal stability of hosting States, thereby creating human insecurities within host societies. It is therefore appropriate to balance traditional concepts of state security with that of human security. As for the European Union, it is not universally considered as major player in subjecta materia and so far its legal framework does not provide protection to environmental migrants. However, in terms of external action, it could become a forerunner and positive example in using Human Security as point of reference in defining specific policies to tackle and limit environmental migration by fostering strategies of adaptation and resilience.