Environmental Migration Governance at Regional Level

This chapter sheds light on the role of regional migration regimes in addressing the following questions: What is the role of regional frameworks in migration governance and how far have regional frameworks taken up the issue of environmentally induced migration? What is the relationship between regional, national and international governance? These questions are answered from a political scientist and legal perspective. The paper argues that the effects of climate change and environmental disaster on cross-border displacement are already felt, and they will affect predominantly countries of the same region in the coming years. Individual states are not fully-equipped to protect persons affected by environmental changes and to deal with these phenomena a significant dynamism is developing at the regional level with the elaboration of specific instruments and policies. In the first part, the chapter will introduce such regional initiatives to identify domestic and international drivers behind their emergence and then it will zoom in on the current development in Central America. In particular, by analysing the current discussion of the RCM Guide to effective Practices for RCM Member Countries to understand the potential of this emerging approach in particular, the role of humanitarian temporary mechanisms, implemented at domestic level.