Lesson video

Hi and welcome back to this unit on migration.

Today will be your second lesson, where we will explore the relationship between climate change and why people move around the world.

So for today's lesson, you will need to grab your notes that you made last time, you will need some paper, you'll need a pen and you might want to get a different coloured pen as well, for when we do some self-assessment and checking our work.

Okay, so in the lesson today, we will explore three things.

We will look at what climate change is, so what's the science behind climate change, we will look at who is moving due to climate change so we will introduce some new key terms and some new definitions and we will have a look at how climate change is impacting migration around the world by looking at two different places.

So, in the first part of the lesson, we will explore the question about what is climate change.

Now, you've probably heard climate change a lot and you have probably read about it, you've watched it on the news, you might studied it in school, or you might've come across it in another Oak lesson.

Climate change, in its most simplest kind of definition, is basically a long-term change in the world's weather and science suggests that there is a direct impact between human activity and the warming of the planet.

So the things humans are doing to the planet are making the world warmer.

Okay and for example, our over-reliance on fossil fuels, so the way we use fossil fuels too much.

And when we use these fuels, they release gases and these gases trap heat from the sun and lead to the planet getting hotter.

And by the end of the century, it's thought that we will be at least three degrees warmer.

And although warmer temperatures might seem appealing, so you're outside thinking, well, you know, I could quite a longer summer, it's not going to be that great, okay? 'Cause the warming of the planet is going to have far reaching and negative consequences, for example, sea levels are going to rise, ice is going to melt and floods are going to get worse and it's going to get hotter but too hot.

So what I would like you to do is have a think about what I've just said and just jot the answers down to these questions as quickly as you can, okay? So think back to what I've said and answer the following questions.

What is climate change? What are the impacts of climate change? What is the relationship between fossil fuels and climate change? And what is the projected temperature rise for the Earth by the end of the century? And you might want to write them in full sentences so when you come back to look at them later on, you'll know what they mean.

So pause this video now and complete your task.

Okay, so hopefully that was no problem and you have got the following answers.

Number one is long-term changes to the weather.

Number two floods, higher temperature, ice caps are melting and rising sea levels.

Burning fossil fuels will release gases that trap heat, kind of from the sun, so things like CO2.

And three degrees warmer.

Okay, so the next part of the lesson is going to explore the question of who is moving due to climate change.

Now last lesson, you were introduced to some definitions to help you define different types of migrants.

So we looked at asylum seeker, refugee, internally displaced people.

So what do we use to define someone who moves because of climate? Now in a lot of the media and in some things you read, you might come across the term climate change refugee.

However, that that term isn't yet a part of international law, it's not part of government policy.

Instead, the phrase used to define someone who moves because of climate change is persons displaced in the context of disasters and climate change.

And this is somebody who is forced to move due to the impact of environmental degradation, so damage and/or natural disasters.

Now you might want to add that definition to your notes you're making for today's lesson.

So you might want to pause the video now and just jot down that definition.

So despite an idea that this term, climate change refugee, doesn't exist, there have been calls for the term to be used and we're going to look at a little case study, okay? And we're going to look at the case study of a man called Ioane Teitiota.

And Ioane Teitiota could have been the world's first climate change refugee.

So, he lives on an island near New Zealand and his life was basically in threat because of the sea and the sea is basically rising and it's taken over his island.

And so the threat of the sea level rise and it was the basis for his four long battle to become the world's first recognised climate change refugee.

But courts in New Zealand rejected the claim and he was deported back to his island to live there again.

And he says that the decision to do that has put him in danger and he claims that he is the same as people who are fighting in war he's afraid of dying, he's just like them because he's concerned about the ocean is just going to gradually get more and more aggressive towards his island and eventually, it is going to overcome it and take it away.

So, do you think that we should use the term climate change refugee and do you think Ioane Teitiota should have been granted the status of a climate change refugee? So if you think back to the last lesson, we looked at the term refugee and what it means.

Do you think that we need to now expand that definition to include people fleeing from climate change? And I just want you to write a little summary of your opinion into your notes now.

So you might want to pause this video now and just take a couple of minutes just to have some ideas.

So my opinion is that I think he should have been granted the status of a climate change refugee because I think this term should now be used in international law and it should have been granted to him.

This is because those currently defined as refugee, Ioane is kind of leaving where he usually lived due to the fears around his safety and ultimately his life, okay? And his home and country are being destroyed by the sea, just like in a refugees' case, their country might be being destroyed by war.

By granting him refugee status, he would be able to receive long-term protection for him and his family.

Now it might be that you've disagreed and you say, well, actually, no, I think the term refugee should stay as it is and perhaps what we need to come up with something else for people escaping from climate change and that's fine.

However, back in January 2020, this case went to the United Nations.

So the United Nations are an international government organisation, bringing the governments of the world together to try and overcome problems and they made a ruling that in the future, countries do need to take account of climate change when they are considering deportation of asylum seekers, because climate change is becoming a really kind of global issue, which countries need to understand and recognise, okay? So it's been called a global precedent, this ruling.

Basically something what sets the standard for future.

And this is because, I'm just going to read the bit in pink, "Climate change represented a serious threat to the right to life and therefore decision-makers need to take this into account when examining the challenges to deportation." So it will be interesting to see what happens in the future and in more cases like this.

So when you're watching the news, you're looking out for these things, try and keep up to date with what's happening and if we do get the world's first climate change refugee.

Okay, so for the third part of the lesson, we are going to have a look at some examples of where climate change does impact migration around the world.

And what I'm going to ask you to do is compare and contrasting the effects, so the what happens and the responses to climate change by two different countries.

How are they similar and how are they different? And the information you learnt at the beginning of the lesson about what climate change will be very useful in this task.

Okay, so you're going to watch two clips and compare and contrast the effects and responses to climate change by the two countries.

Now I'm going to suggest that you lay it out in a table like this, so you can do a little kind of quadrant.

Are you going to have similar effects of climate change in both countries, different effects of climate change in both countries, similar responses to climate change and differing responses? Now, if you want to write it out another way, you can do but you're going to need to leave this video and access the worksheet along with the lesson and the clips, you'll find embedded on the worksheet, okay? So you need to watch Clip 1 and you'll need to watch that at least four minutes, 55 in order to be able to complete the activity.

So you might want to jot that down, down on the side of your paper and you need to watch Clip 2 which you'll need to watch until 5:16.

And then if you come back, we will go through the answers then.

So pause the video now to complete that task.

Okay, hopefully you found those videos interesting and it developed your knowledge of the topic.

So when I watched them, so they looked at two places, Fairbourne which is in Wales and kind of Bangladesh and in both countries and kind of both places, the rising sea levels were the major effect, okay? And this is basically meaning that people are going to have to lose their home and leave where they live.

But this affected the countries in different ways and this is mainly due to their level of development, okay? So in Bangladesh, the effect has been more widespread and not only is it causing people to leave their homes, but it's having a lot of serious health concerns, it's damaging crops, it's taking away employment and it's affecting the water supply.

And it means all the places, so it's kind of surrounding where this is worse, have become dangerous overcrowded because people are moving, people migrating from next to the sea and the rivers, to the cities, away from the water.

In both places, both Bangladesh and Fairbourne, things are being put in place to try and stop it.

So like defences are being put up, et cetera.

But again, both of them are going to approach the situation in a very different way due to their level of development.

So in Bangladesh, the response is more immediate, it needs to happen now because of the floods and the yearly damage and upset the rising levels of water cause.

Whereas in Fairbourne, it's not immediate, it's in the future.

So there's some long-term planning going on.

So climate change needs a long-term response and it really does need a global-ish, a global kind of power to stop it and prevent its effects.

So the United Nations do have climate change conferences and the next one is in Glasgow in 2021 on the 1st to the 12th of November.

So if you've enjoyed the lesson and you found it interesting, you might want to keep you keep your eye on that for that, to develop your knowledge a little bit further.

So that really brings us to an end today.

Hopefully you have now got a further idea of what climate change is.

You hopefully can now define and get the definition of people moving because of climate change.

And you can also kind of look and see how climate change affects different places around the world and how different countries responding to the issue.

Okay, so hopefully you've enjoyed today's lesson and you feel like you have furthered your knowledge on the topic.

Please make sure you complete the exit quiz after you've finished, so you can assess what you've learnt and hopefully I will see you again for the next lesson on this topic.

Thank you very much.

Have a good day.