Air pollution does not respect national boundaries and environmental degradation¹ will lead to mass migration² in the future, said a leading barrister in the wake of a landmark³ migration ruling, as experts warned that government action must be taken as a matter of urgency.

 

在一次里程碑式的移民裁决后，一位顶级律师表示，空气污染不受国界限制，环境恶化将在未来导致大规模移民。专家警告称，事态紧急，政府必须采取行动。

 

Sailesh Mehta, a barrister specialising in environmental cases, said: "The link between migration and environmental degradation is clear. As global warming makes parts of our planet uninhabitable, mass migration will become the norm. Air and water pollution do not respect national boundaries. We can stop a humanitarian⁴ and political crisis from becoming an existential one. But our leaders must act now."

 

He added: "We have a right to breathe clean air. Governments and courts are beginning to recognise this fundamental human right. The problem is not just that of Bangladesh and the developing world. Air pollution contributes to around 200,000 deaths a year in the UK. One in four deaths worldwide can be linked to pollution."

 

The comments follow a decision by a French court this week, which is believed to be the first time environment was cited by a court in an extradition⁵ hearing. The case involved a Bangladeshi man with asthma⁶ who avoided deportation⁷ from France after his lawyer argued that he risked a severe deterioration⁸ in his condition, and possibly premature⁹ death, due to the dangerous levels of pollution in his homeland.

 

The appeals court in Bordeaux overturned an expulsion order against the 40-year-old man because he would face "a worsening of his respiratory pathology due to air pollution" in his country of origin.

 

Yale and Columbia universities' environmental performance index ranks Bangladesh 179th in the world for air quality in 2020, while the concentration of fine particles in the air is six times the World Health Organization's recommended maximum.

 

According to the Environmental Justice Foundation, one person every 1.3 seconds is forced to leave their homes and communities due to the climate crisis but millions lack legal protection. It has called on all countries to rapidly and fully¹⁰ implement¹¹ the Paris climate agreement.

 

A ruling by the United Nations human rights committee a year ago found it is unlawful for governments to return people to countries where their lives might be threatened by the climate crisis.

 

Tens of millions of people are expected to be displaced by global heating in the next decade.

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