Premium
Environmental Change in Refugee‐Affected Areas of the Third World: The Role of Policy and Research
Author(s) -
BLACK RICHARD
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7717.1994.tb00292.x
Subject(s) - refugee , resource (disambiguation) , environmental planning , environmental degradation , environmental change , environmental policy , environmental resource management , political science , climate change , geography , computer science , environmental science , computer network , ecology , law , biology
This paper reviews the current nature of policy responses to environmental change in refugee assistance programmes. Based on a review of existing documentary material and a survey of UK‐based NGOs, it is suggested that although refugee assistance agencies are aware of environmental issues, this is rarely translated into effective policy measures to identify and combat environmental degradation. Various existing methods used to calculate environmental impacts are considered, but a number of pitfalls are identified. It is suggested that little is known about the processes that lead to accelerated environmental change in situations of forced displacement, and that research providing deeper understanding of local environments and resource management systems is required for environmental policies to be effective.