Refugees, land cover, and environmental change in the Senegal River Valley

This paper seeks to explore the complex relationships between land cover, environmental change and forced migration in the middle valley of the Senegal River, attempting both to identify the nature of environmental impacts of forced displacement with specific reference to land cover, and to examine the social, political and economic circumstances in which these are exacerbated or reduced. The study concludes that change in land cover caused by the presence of refugees is not a major cause for concern in this area, despite the vulnerability of the natural environment. Significant factors in reducing negative impacts include the dispersal of the refugee population, and cultural and social proximity of the refugee and local populations surveyed. At the same time, observed changes in land cover need to be treated with caution, given the often cyclical nature of environmental change, and the range of factors associated with it.     

From compassion to compliance? Trends in refugee and humanitarian migration in Australia

Australia has a long history of offering protection to refugees. In the post-World War II period it has predominantly been involved in an offshore refugee settlement program whereby it has assisted international efforts to assist refugees and resettled almost 600,000 refugees in Australia. In recent years, however, substantial numbers of asylum seekers have arrived on Australia's shores and this has seen the development of an onshore refugee program which is seen as quite separate from the offshore program. This has involved the detention of asylum seekers while their claims for protection are assessed and when they are assessed as being qualified for protection they are given different status to offshore determined refugee settlers. The paper summarises the development of refugee policy in Australia and the evolution of the offshore and onshore policies. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Organic functionalism, `community' and place: refugee studies and the geographical constitution of refugee identities

The growth in the global population of refugees over the last 20 years has been paralleled by the development and growth of refugee studies as a recognised discipline. However refugees do not comprise a naturally self-delimiting domain of scientific knowledge and have been constituted by refugee studies through discourses that emphasise humanitarian, apolitical and organic functionalist discourses that root refugee identities in particular places. This paper argues that the presently inadequate constitution of refugee identities in refugee studies has been compounded by geographic representations of regional refugee emergencies, stable conceptions of refugees and asylum seekers and dated and unproblematic understandings of space as inactive and not constitutive of social life. Using data collected in interviews held between 1995 and 1998 with representatives from refugee and asylum institutions and organisations this paper illustrates how discourses and funding policies that unproblematically assume community groups represent refugees asylum seekers ignore transnational differences and tensions that can exist in marginalised communities. However it should be pointed out that the discourses about place, nationality and identity and `natural' communities can also be used by the powerless to resist their marginalised and excluded positions.     

A no-camp policy: Interrogating informal settlements in Lebanon

As fewer refugees move into formal camps, what kinds of non-camp spaces are emerging and how does that challenge the ways in which we understand the management and politics of refuge? This paper seeks to shed light on this question through an analysis of informal settlements in Lebanon. The Syrian crisis has displaced millions of people, most of whom have moved into neighbouring countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. The Lebanese government, faced with a longer history of Palestinian camps and their militarization has refused to allow the establishment of official refugee camps for Syrians. As a result of this ‘no camp’ policy, Syrians are forced to either live in private rented accommodation in towns and cities throughout the country, or in informal settlements (ISes) built on private, often agricultural land. These informal settlements are built and developed through a complex assemblage of humanitarianism, hospitality, security, economic and political considerations. In this paper, I look at the physical and social spaces of informal settlements in the Bekaa Valley, Eastern Lebanon, examining how differential access to aid, support, security and tacit recognition by the state has led to variations amongst them. In doing so, I expose how an informalized response to the crisis through a system of deregulation is enabling refugee spaces to emerge that are visible, yet unrecognized, flexible, yet precarious. These spaces destabilize the city/camp dichotomy by drawing together elements of both. In engaging with debates on informality, the paper contributes to a growing critical literature on refugee geographies and seeks to expand beyond the reductive narratives of refugee camps, thereby offering insights into refugee futures in increasingly uncertain times.     

The creation and consequences of international refugees: Politics,military and geography

Worldwide, the number and the occurrence of events that create international refugees has been increasing dramatically for at least the past fifty years. Analysis of the distribution of the causes and location of refugees has revealed that refugees more often result from military actions than natural disasters. In many instances, the creation of international refugees is a conscious political and military policy, a practice that seems to be increasing. More importantly, some geographic areas seem to be continuing core areas of such practices. Finally, regardless of their cause, refugees present specific problems to national control of population and territory. States that have been open to refugee settlement seldom are neighbor states and many now find their own populations rebelling against continued aid in the form of increased immigration. Most often, contiguous states are unwilling hosts as well as unwilling sites of refugee camps. Such circumstances can cause serious social, political as well as potential military consequences.     

The changing nature and European perceptions of Europe's refugee problem

Many in Western Europe regard it as being in the grip of a refugee crisis. This paper considers this contention. It describes the main stages in the development of the current refugee crisis and argues that having established the agenda in the 1940s, Western Europe has been able to progressively distance itself from refugee episodes and define them as essentially problems of the Third World. The end of the Cold War and the growth in numbers of spontaneous, rather than quota, refugees have been considerable shocks to the West, which can no longer contain and distance itself from refugee flows. Shock has led Europe to overreact and become myopic in its view of refugee matters. In reality, figures demonstrate that Wetern Europe is not the centre of refugee generation, applications or resettlement. Despite this, governments have taken draconian unilateral and multilateral action to exclude not only Third World asylum seekers but also those from the East.     

Refugees and village renewal in Yugoslavia

Using statistics collected by UNHCR and the Serbian government, the paper examines aspects of the refugee problem in FR Yugoslavia whose war-affected population amounted to 646 066 persons in 1996 (a figure that is almost certainly an underestimate). Relatively few refugees will return to their homes even with a political settlement because so many homes are damaged or destroyed. Many people would like to settle in Western Europe and some have already succeeded (especially in Scandinavia where asylum seekers from Former Yugoslavia accounted for 80 percent of the applications in January-September 1993). But regulations are being tightened and asylum seekers are now facing deportation. Housing refugees in FRY is expensive (only 350 refugees got new homes and permanent citizenship in 1994), but some exchanges have been arranged between Serbs arriving from Croatia and Croats established in Vojvodina who are willing to move in the opposite direction. The most promising solution discussed in the paper is resettlement in border villages which have experienced steady depopulation since the Second World War. Houses are available for refurbishment and arable land is cheap. The resettlement of refugee farmers could make an immediate impact on food production and over the longer term there could be sustained economic growth in the context of a newly-constituted Euroregion. Such a strategy would make a virtue out of necessity by helping the refugees and the border regions which have had their potential enhanced by cross-border cooperation. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Housing demolition and refugee resettlement schemes in the Gaza Strip

This case study examines Israeli resettlement policy and housing demolition measures practiced in the Gaza Strip. Since the Gaza Strip is distinguished by a huge concentration of dispossessed Palestinian refugees maintained in large camps, the Israeli authorities, from the early stage of the 1967 occupation of the area, have devoted major effort to breaking up the camps and relocating their inhabitants elsewhere. The Israeli authorities have applied a clear policy of systematic destruction of refugee shelters and initiation of resettlement schemes, aimed in the short run at making the refugee camps less congested, while in the long run, the policy appears designed to remove these camps from the landscape entirely, since they remain a constant reminder of Palestinian uprootedness and exile. To date, the Israeli strategy of demolishing the entire refugee camp network has failed to achieve its final objective.     

Pathways,motivations and challenges: contemporary Tuvaluan migration to New Zealand

The global climate change literature suggests that at some point in the future it is possible that low-lying areas may be drowned due to rising sea levels, and a number of Pacific Ocean states could be particularly vulnerable. It is increasingly evident that the emerging scenario of environmental change has compounded more established push–pull factors leading to migration, and has provided a new imperative for migration decision-making. By interrogating the proposition that there is a clear distinction between the policy categories of ‘migrants’ and ‘refugees,’ we examine a hitherto un-defined group of Tuvaluan migrants whose movement is in response to environmental change and possible climate change effects. The paper examines Tuvaluan migration to New Zealand through various immigration schemes for permanent residency, with an emphasis on the International/Humanitarian stream.     

Palestinian refugees: empirical and qualitative considerations

This paper focuses attention upon the existence of a Palestinian refugee population in the land about and immediately adjacent to Israel. It considers both the creation and the continuation of the refugee state within the host communities and the growth occurring within the refugee populations themselves. Some attention will be directed to a consideration of the refugee population vis à vis the dramatic upsurge in the number of former Soviet-CIS Jewish immigrants into Israel, that create further and deepening pressures upon land and water resources and Palestinian refugee matters. The paper is in three main parts following upon a general introduction to refugee studies. Firstly, a quantitative assessment of the Palestinian refugee population incorporates an empirical presentation of base Palestinian population totals and distributions, directing particular attention to growth in the period 1974–90. Secondly, several perspectives are presented as a backcloth to understanding certain of the continuing and mounting tensions within the Middle East in general and among the Palestinian refugee population in particular. Personal experiences of the writer as fieldworker are presented to provide a more general appreciation and awareness of the particular refugee situation within the Occupied Territories. The third part considers the developing and extending yet increasingly fundamental political consciousness among the Palestinian refugees, and certain envisaged reactions, and speculates upon continuing frustrations that are seen to be leading on to dramatic, mounting and extending violence.     

The agonies of displacement: Ethiopian women refugees in Khartoum,Sudan

Conclusion For the overwhelming majority of the Ethiopian refugees in urban Sudan, there seems to be no end to their plight. Their lives are in limbo. When they left their homeland most thought thei exile would be temporary. They sought temporary refuge only until the conditions at home improved and they might return in safety. Unfortunately, the conditions for their repatriation have never developed. Armed conflicts in Ethiopia still continue to rage unabated. the regime in power also continues to abuse fundamental human rights.Many of the refugees also thought they would have peace and security and, perhaps, a decent livelihood in their asylum home. These have not materialized either. The Sudan, faced with numerous problems, including civil war, drought, famine, huge external debt (in excess of $12 billion), open unemployment, and pervasive underemployment, is not even able to cope adequately with the basic needs of its own citizens, let along that of a refugee population of over a million. Worse, refugees are blamed for every problem from bread and water shortages to skyrocketing rents and have become convenient targets for harassment by the frustrated public.Others hoped for resettlement in another country. However, for the vast majority of refugees, resettlement opportunities elsewhere are virtually impossible to attin. The industrial countried are unwilling to grant asylum to large numbers of Third World refugees. These countries content that most Third World refugees are not victims of political persecution but simply migrants in search of better economoc opportunities. The few refugees to whom these countries are willing to grant asylum are those with the best qualifications: the young, the educated, and the highly skilled.As long as the current status quo in Ethiopia remains unaltered, voluntary repatriation is highly unlikelt. On the contrary, one sees more and more evidence in the country of continued uprooting of masses of people from their homes and land. It is sad that, goven the immense contradictions in the country, the possibility of negotiated solutions to the wars and a return to democracy is nowhere in sight. The plight of hundred of thousands of innocent women and men will not be solved anytime in the immediate future of them to return home in safety, peace, and dignity. For most of these refugees the future is uncertain, probably unpleasant, possibly bleak.     

From ‘There’ to ‘Here’: An investigation of the initial settlement experiences of Ethiopian and Somali refugees in Toronto

Very little research exists on the resettlement of refugees in Canada. This is particularly so in the case of refugees from African countries, albeit there are significant numbers of them in Canada. Drawing on both qualitative and quantitative data, this paper contributes to the scanty geographical literature on refugee research by examining the initial settlement needs and experiences of Ethiopian and Somali refugees in Toronto. Analysis suggests that most Ethiopians and Somalis encounter considerable difficulties during the initial stages of resettlement in Canada. They face social exclusion and multiple forms of disadvantage including high unemployment, underemployment, and overcrowding, as well as frustrations and despair that sometimes result in suicidal behaviours, particularly among the young males. Host language incompetence and recency of immigration are some explanatory factors, but it is clear that systems of institutional and everyday racism have created very formidable barriers for Ethiopians and Somalis as they integrate into their new country. For Ethiopian and Somali newcomers settling in Toronto, information on (initial) settlement assistance tends to come from sources other than the government. Majority of respondents obtained such information through their personal network of friends, family, and compatriots. Ethnic origin does not discriminate between Ethiopian and Somali refugees in regard to the difficulties they face in Toronto, in that it does not show any statistically significant relationship with almost all the variables examined in the study. Understanding how refugees attempt to reconstruct their social geographies in the most multicultural and cosmopolitan Canadian city will contribute to a better understanding of their settlement needs and assist in the provision of higher quality services and programmes, besides informing policy decision-making on immigration and settlement in Canada. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Analyzing the individual and social rights condition of climate refugees from the international environmental law perspective

In evaluating international treaties, in particular, the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention, this paper shows that necessary preparations have not been made to protect the rights of individuals who are refugees or have been forced to migrate from their homeland. Immigrants are deprived of the most essential human rights, such as language, culture, and having a right to a healthy living environment. The current legal administration has not made the necessary contingencies for responding to the environmental consequences of immigration and is extremely inefficient in expanding this phenomenon. This paper seeks to address the question of to what extent existing forms of legal and operational protection can apply in climate change-related displacement in general and cross-border displacement in particular. In this work some strategies have been proposed for dealing with these existing gaps. It is expected that analyzing these gaps and determining the international community??s duties and commitments (governments and international organizations) can result in efficient management of this crisis and prevent the outbreak of chaos across the globe.     

气候变化对江河流量变化趋势影响研究进展

气候变化对基于自然稳定气候假定的流量变化趋势的检测和水资源评价方法提出了挑战。在流量变化趋势的检测中分离出气候变化的影响,不仅对水资源管理和水利工程设计有重要的应用价值,而且有助于了解气候变化以何种方式、在何时、何地、已经或尚未对水文循环产生影响,对改进气候模型的模拟与预测有重要的科学价值。 统计方法是检验流量变化趋势显著性的有效工具。直接用气候模型模拟和预测未来径流变化的可靠性取决于模型对当代降水模拟的可信度。多个气候模型集合分析有可能在一定程度上减少模型对降水、径流模拟的不确定性。近年发展起来的多个气候模型集合分析与统计显著性检验技术结合的方法,有可能模拟并预测出气候强迫导致大尺度径流空间分布的变化。随着气候模型尤其是陆—气耦合的区域气候模型对降水模拟的改进,可以预见径流变化的检测、归因和预测的趋同化模拟已为期不远。将温室气体外强迫导致的水文气候变化作为一个因子引入到水资源评价中,对于水资源管理经济与生态评估,以及未来的发展规划将是一件十分重要的变革。      

Opportunities provided by geographic information systems and volunteered geographic information for a timely emergency response during flood events in Cologne,Germany

The occurrence of disasters such as extreme flooding in urban environments has severe consequences, not only on the human population but also on critical infrastructures such as the road networks, which are of vital importance for everyday living and particularly for emergency response. In this article, our main goal is to present-conceptually and in praxis-a model that could be used from the emergency responders for timely and efficient emergency management and response in an urban complex environment. For the city of Cologne in Germany, we aim to indicate possible ways to decrease the emergency response time during an extreme flood scenario through the development of an accessibility indicator, which consists of different components. Therefore, we will investigate the opportunities that occur, in a flood risk scenario, from the use of geographic information in different forms such as Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) and open-source data in an ArcGIS environment, to increase urban resilience through the decreasing emergency response time. We will focus on network analysis for the fire brigades (first acting emergency responders) during a flood scenario to calculate their emergency response ranges and emergency response routes through flooded road networks, for the assistance of the possibly affected hospitals, refugee homes and fire brigades, which can be flooded. At the end of the paper, we suggest that the vulnerable community of the refugees could be taken into consideration as a new source of VGI, as an additional component that would lead to the decrease in the emergency response time. The geo-located information that could be provided by the refugee community can be very useful in emergency situations, such as those examined in this article where timely information can be forwarded to the proper authorities for a more focused and timely emergency response, increasing the resilience of the urban population and their community.

     

Opportunities provided by geographic information systems and volunteered geographic information for a timely emergency response during flood events in Cologne,Germany

The occurrence of disasters such as extreme flooding in urban environments has severe consequences, not only on the human population but also on critical infrastructures such as the road networks, which are of vital importance for everyday living and particularly for emergency response. In this article, our main goal is to present-conceptually and in praxis-a model that could be used from the emergency responders for timely and efficient emergency management and response in an urban complex environment. For the city of Cologne in Germany, we aim to indicate possible ways to decrease the emergency response time during an extreme flood scenario through the development of an accessibility indicator, which consists of different components. Therefore, we will investigate the opportunities that occur, in a flood risk scenario, from the use of geographic information in different forms such as Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) and open-source data in an ArcGIS environment, to increase urban resilience through the decreasing emergency response time. We will focus on network analysis for the fire brigades (first acting emergency responders) during a flood scenario to calculate their emergency response ranges and emergency response routes through flooded road networks, for the assistance of the possibly affected hospitals, refugee homes and fire brigades, which can be flooded. At the end of the paper, we suggest that the vulnerable community of the refugees could be taken into consideration as a new source of VGI, as an additional component that would lead to the decrease in the emergency response time. The geo-located information that could be provided by the refugee community can be very useful in emergency situations, such as those examined in this article where timely information can be forwarded to the proper authorities for a more focused and timely emergency response, increasing the resilience of the urban population and their community.     

Militarism and the environment in Guatemala

This paper examines how civil war in Guatemala created and destroyed community cohesion, which, in turn, influences land use practices in the frontier region of Ixcán today. The impact of civil war on the environment and land use in this region takes many forms. Some communities took refuge in Mexico. Other communities refused to take refuge in Mexico and also refused to submit to military rule. These communities of “people in resistance” formed highly cohesive units in order to evade military detection. The lessons of cooperation and the high levels of cohesion they developed during their years in hiding have carried over to their successful management of natural resources in post-conflict Guatemala. Return refugees accumulated higher levels of cohesion while in refuge because they often participated in workshops organized and funded by outside relief agencies. Higher levels of community cohesion have allowed return refugee communities to better organize and use their land in more sustainable ways. Other communities did not flee and thus endured military rule. They were forced out of their dispersed land parcels into concentrated model villages. Concentration of community members forced intensive use of the environment in the zone immediately surrounding the new settlement. Often, distrust permeated these occupied communities and community cohesion dipped. Today, these low levels of community cohesion lead to a lack of consensus on how to use land and resources in the community. The overall goal of the paper is to point out the community level variation in the relationship between military actions, community cohesion, and the environment.

Refugees’ reflections on their stay in the Buduburam Camp in Ghana

Since the 1990s, Ghana has been hosting refugees from neighbouring West African countries and other parts of Africa but not much information is available on their experiences in the country. The main objective of this paper therefore is to examine the experiences of the refugees using the Liberian refugees in the Buduburam Refugee Camp as a case study. Using an in-depth interview guide, 44 refugees of both sexes were interviewed through a convenient sampling procedure based on their consent and willingness to participate in the study. The study employed the structuration theory of migration to examine their experiences and the Kunz’s (Int Migr Rev 15:42–51, 1981) typology of refugees to classify the refugees. Through their own capabilities and opportunities offered by both structure and institution, some refugees were able to sustain themselves through petty trading and artisanship while others were unemployed and had to depend occasionally on their social networks for economic support. Cultural shocks, acculturation, tension and occasional quarrels with the indigenes, stigma and discrimination against refugees in schools and at health centres, inaccessibility to formal sector employment, poor security and inadequate infrastructural facilities were some of their experiences in and outside the camp. The need for proper identification of refugees for security reasons, provision of better security and adequate infrastructural facilities and skills training for refugees to engage in livelihood activities were some of the recommendations from the refugees themselves.     

Refugee research in the shadow of fear

What does it mean to conduct community-based and praxis-oriented research at a time when those whose lives you study and with whom you work are the subjects of increasing levels of xenophobia, marginalization, and demonization? How does one conceive of research ethics, of the relationship between the roles of scholars, teachers, and citizens in light of such dynamics? In what ways can scholarship help to intervene in the world around us, in particular to improve the perception and amplify the voices of marginalized groups and individuals? This paper considers these issues in the context of research ethics and the growing field of community geography. I draw in particular on an example from a multi-year study of refugee resettlement in non-traditional destinations across the US. When the study began, refugee policies and settlement patterns were little known to the general public in the US. Since then, refugees and migration more broadly have become increasingly prominent and controversial worldwide. In this paper I explore some of the challenges regarding collaborations between university researchers and community partners, highlighting the tensions exposed through the use of the visualization technique known as Photovoice, meant to provide alternative perspectives on ideas for urban change amongst participants. I also consider some ideas for steps to address these challenges, including the building of networks and training for researchers and formalized partnership processes for community groups.

     

Response of peatland development and carbon cycling to climate change: a dynamic system modeling approach

Peatlands contain approximately 25% of the total soil organic carbon, despite covering only 3% of earth’s land surface. The ecological, hydrological and biogeochemical functions of peatlands are tightly coupled to climate. Therefore, both direct human impacts and indirect effects of climate change can threaten the ecological function of peatlands through changes in hydrology. However, little is known about how peatland ecosystems, and specifically their biogeochemistry, carbon cycling, and development, may respond to climatic change. In this study, the Peat Accumulation Model was adapted to investigate the response of peatland development and carbon cycling to climatic change through simulating changes in precipitation and temperature at different stages of peatland development history. The warming and wetting were imposed on this system at 10,000 years since its initialization (mid-development stage) and at 20,000 years since its initialization (late-development stage). Here, it was revealed that peatlands can switch between carbon sinks and sources suddenly, but the extent to which the change takes place depends on the developmental stage of peatland ecosystems. The simulation results for the late-development stage showed that peatlands could function as carbon sources once warming and wetting was imposed but that peatland ecosystems during the mid-development stage can still function as carbon sinks under warming and wetting conditions. Moreover, peatland ecosystems have self-regulation capabilities so that they can go back to their normal ecological and biogeochemical functions under newly stabilized climates. Also, it is the change in temperature that results in the fundamental change in peatland development and carbon cycling. This study indicates that the response of peatland ecosystems to climate change is largely determined by their developmental stages.