UNHCR

The response of the EU to the arrival ‘en masse’ of refugees in need of a safe haven has left much to be desired, and some leaders have used the issue of security threats as an excuse to avoid taking up their responsibilities to provide humanitarian assistance. But until European leaders and citizens join the dots between the complex but interlinked issues of migration and climate change, a secure environment will remain out of reach for all of us. An interview with Bodil Valero, Green MEP for Sweden.

To avoid further catastrophes and deaths in the Mediterranean we need a radical shift in the priorities of EU asylum policies. Increasing the budget of the “Triton” operation of the EU border surveillance agency FRONTEX and doing another minute of silence is not enough!

It was not until the late 2000s that environmental migration and displacement stepped into climate change negotiations. Now that they have however, are the EU and UN doing enough to deal with this growing issue? In the run up to the Paris 2015 negotiations, Esmeralda Colombo explores the debate.