Climate Mobilities. Redefining Statehood, Citizenship, and Refugeehood in Times of Climate Crisis

Editors: Francesca Rosignoli, Eurac Research; Susana Borrás, Universitat Rovira i Virgili; Alexandra Tomaselli, Eurac Research; Federica Cittadino, Eurac Research

Recent literature has provided evidence that six of nine planetary boundaries have been transgressed since 2015. Ocean acidification is also approaching its limit while several regional climate tipping points have already been crossed. Although this data demonstrates that the resilience and stability of the Earth’s system are at high risk, states and scholars have rarely advanced new categories or rethought existing ones to face new challenges that the climate crisis will bring in the near future.

Such new challenges include migration and displacement in the context of climate and environmental changes, climate exile, the sovereignty of disappearing lands, citizenship of stateless persons dueto climate change, and environmental and human health impacts due to biodiversity loss. Higher gender vulnerabilities linked with migration and displacement in the context of climate and environmental changes have also been rarely addressed by gender-sensitive policies.

In this view, this Special Issue will fill this gap by examining the political, legal, and judicial implications of the climate crisis. The main goal of this Special Issue is to collect recent developments and proposals to address the challenges posed by the climate crisis. Expected contributions will range from ongoing initiatives to constitutional proposals and amendments, proposals’ drafts of international treaties, relevant case-laws, and best practices collections at the subnational level, including local policies. Comparative studies of two or more countries are also welcomed. The call does not have a specific regional focus, so any contributions worldwide are well received.

The Special Issue strives to contribute innovative insights into how to equip future democracies with legal, judicial, and policy instruments to cope with the spectrum of uninhabitability. We are particularly interested in manuscripts discussing emerging (and contested) categories (e.g. climate exiles, climate refugees, stateless persons due to climate change) or providing novel interpretations of existing ones (e.g. sovereignty and statehood, citizenship, refugeehood, legal personhood) in light of a worsening climate change. In addition, proposals dealing with the role of Courts in addressing the climate crisis and its spillover effects on migration, international protection, human rights, and the State’s constitutional and international obligations, inter alia, are highly valued.

This Special Issue welcomes contributions from political science and law. Topics for manuscripts may include, but are not limited to, proposals that engage with the following categories in light of the challenges posed by climate change:

• Sovereignty and Statehood
• Citizenship-Refugeehood
• Legal personhood

More specifically, we are interested in manuscripts that address the main research questions of this call, namely

• How can future democracies be equipped with legal, judicial and policy instruments to cope with the spectrum of inhabitability?
• How can we rethink existing categories of sovereignty, citizenship, refugeehood, and legal personhood in the face of the climate crisis and uninhabitability?
• What role can courts play in tackling climate change? In particular, how can Courts leverage human rights law, refugee law, migration law, climate change law to monitor and ensure State’s commitments enshrined therein? What are the main challenges that limit, or impinge, access to Courts in the context of climate change, and how could theybe solved?
• How can we ensure that future policies address specific gender vulnerabilities inmigration and displacement in the context of climate and environmental changes?
• How can we design legal, judicial and policy instruments that might protect the rights of future generations?

Instructions for applicants:

We only accept proposals in English. Abstracts of 250 words are expected by December 1st, 2025, to be submitted to the following email address: francesca.rosignoli(at)eurac.edu

• December 1, 2025: Abstract submission deadline
• December 20, 2025: Selection of proposals
• May 1, 2026: Submission of papers to the Journal
• September 15, 2026: Peer review evaluation of the articles
• November 30, 2026: Publication

Long abstracts should include the following information:

(1) A description of the topic,

(2) How the paper addresses one or more of the nodal points of the SI,

(3) Empirical data and methodology,

(4) Findings.

The total length of your article must not exceed 10,000 words (and not less than 8.000). Note that the word total includes references, notes, tables, figures and diagrams.

Call for Papers (Link)