Sec. 2. Findings; sense of Congress

693 words·~3 min read·/bill/116/hr/4732/ih/section-2

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

Congress finds the following: According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Earth’s climate is now changing faster than at any point in history. The October 2018 report entitled Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5° C by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the November 2018 Fourth National Climate Assessment report found that a changing climate is— causing sea levels to rise; contributing to an increase in wildfires and temperature extremes in some parts of the world; and contributing to an increase in heavy precipitation in certain locations.

Forced displacement and forced migration are increasing in the context of environmental changes and climate-induced disruptions, including weather-related disasters, drought, famine, and rising sea levels. Climate-related events and disasters are causing a person to be displaced from his or her home every second. The United Nations Human Rights Council has recognized that climate change poses an existential threat that has already had a negative impact on the fulfilment of human rights, specifically noting that— parties should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote, and consider their respective obligations on human rights; and the adverse effects of climate change are felt most acutely by those segments of the population that are already in vulnerable situations owing to factors such as geography, poverty, gender, age, indigenous or minority status, national or social origin, birth, or other status and disability.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has suggested that a person who cannot be reasonably expected to return to his or her country of origin— should be considered a victim of forced displacement; and should be granted at least a temporary stay in the country where they have found refuge. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change affirms with high confidence that societal adaptations in the near term can help reduce the risks of climate change throughout the 21st century.

Since 2013, typhoons and storms in the Philippines have displaced nearly 15,000,000 people. Violence in Burma’s Rakhine State has forced nearly 1,000,000 Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh, where they are exposed to the country’s vulnerability to the effects of extreme flooding and landslides worsened by climate change. In 2019, extreme flooding in Northern and Northeast India displaced at least 3,000,000 people, including almost 2,000,000 people in the Northern Indian state of Bihar and more than 1,700,000 people in Northeastern Assam state.

The small Pacific island Nation of Kiribati is preparing for large swaths of the country to be uninhabitable and for its people to migrate with the skill to integrate into their new host nation. More than 150,000,000 people around the world now live on land that will be below sea level or regular flood levels by the end of the century unless adaptation measures are taken. The effects of climate change also exacerbate social, economic, and political tensions within and among nations.

In 2014, the Department of Defense Quadrennial Defense Review cited the effects of climate change as a threat multiplier that could aggravate stressors abroad. In 2016, a memorandum from the National Intelligence Counsel entitled Implications for U.S. National Security of Anticipated Climate Change highlighted how climate change could create or inflame tensions between nations in already disputed regions, such as the Arctic. Continued climate change will drive further displacement.

According to the International Organization for Migration, by 2050, there could be as many as 200,000,000 climate-displaced persons, including those who are internally displaced. The United States has not systematically acted to address climate displacement or to provide appropriate durable solutions to those who are displaced. It is the sense of Congress that the United States should— reduce its domestic greenhouse gas emissions on a scale and rate proportionate to its historical responsibility and the urgency of the threat of climate change; welcome the shared responsibility of climate change adaptation, global disaster risk reduction, resiliency building, and disaster response and recovery; assist in providing durable solutions for climate-displaced persons; aid other countries in their climate change mitigation efforts; and work with the international community— to establish a framework to share such responsibilities; and to ensure that the human rights of climate-displaced persons are acknowledged, respected, protected, and fulfilled.