Displacement Beyond Borders: Legal Protections for Climate Refugees & Migrants on a Burning Planet

Co-Hosted by the International Refugee Assistance Project at NYU Law, Environmental Law Society, and Law Students for Human Rights

What is the state of climate refugee-hood and migration in 2025? This panel will bring together expert speakers and practitioners to provide an outlook on how international law has evolved to protect climate refugees and where it still fails to do so – as well as what promising approaches there are for bolstering these protections. It will also consider the greatest challenges to establishing comprehensive protections for climate refugees and migrants in a world where climate change impacts are rapidly accelerating, countries are failing to meet their climate goals, and there is a surge in right-wing nativist and xenophobic politics across the Global North. It will also practically address how law students can get involved through their studies and careers in advancing protections for people displaced by climate change, by taking action from the local to the national and international levels.