As of 2019, the NRDC had over three million members, with online
activities nationwide, and a staff of about 700 lawyers, scientists and
other policy experts.
A dozen concerned citizens organized the Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference in opposition to the project, citing its environmental impact, and the group, represented by Whitney North Seymour Jr., his law partner Stephen Duggan, and David Sive, sued the Federal Power Commission and successfully achieved a ruling that groups such as Scenic Hudson and other environmentalist groups had the standing to challenge the FPC's administrative rulings.
Realizing that continued environmentalist litigation would require a
nationally organized, professionalized group of lawyers and scientists,
Duggan, Seymour, and Sive obtained funding from the Ford Foundation and joined forces with Gus Speth and three other recent Yale Law School graduates of the class of 1969: Richard Ayres, Edward Strohbehn Jr., and John Bryson.
John H. Adams was the group's first staff member and Duggan its founding chairman; Seymour, Laurance Rockefeller, and others served as members of the board.
Position on nuclear power
In the 1970s, NRDC sought to block expansion of the Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York. It has historically until the plant's closure in 2021, sought to close the plant. NRDC has also sought to close the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in California. In 2018, the NRDC took no position on legislative proposals in New Jersey to subsidize three of its nuclear reactors.
NRDC has argued that nuclear power is not a viable energy source to
mitigate climate change, arguing that it poses public health and safety
risks through nuclear waste and nuclear proliferation. In 2014, NRDC president Frances Beinecke said that the NRDC could not support nuclear power because it would lose donations.
Position on solar power
In
2012, NRDC sued the federal government to stop the 663.5-megawatt
Calico solar station in the Mojave Desert in California. NRDC said the
solar plant would imperil protected wildlife. In 2022, NRDC supported proposals to subsidize rooftop solar power generation.
Position on hydropower
NRDC's position on hydropower is that it is not a renewable energy
source. When Indian Point was scheduled for closure, NRDC held no
position on a proposal to build a transmission line to Quebec to access
excess hydropower while arguing, "we certainly would not be on board
where [hydropower] gobbles up the space we think should be covered by
true renewables".
Programs
NRDC
states the purpose of its work is "safeguard the earth—its people, its
plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends,"
and to "ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water and the
wild, and to prevent special interests from undermining public
interests." Their stated areas of work include: "climate change, communities, energy, food, health, oceans, water, the wild".
As a legal advocacy group,
the NRDC works to accomplish environmental goals by operating within
the legal system to reduce pollution and protect natural resources
through litigation, and by working with professionals in science, law,
and policy at the national and international level. The NRDC's Center for Campaigns & Organizing (CC&O) also oversees the NRDC Action Fund, a separate 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization which engages in political and electoral activities.
NRDC published onEarth, a quarterly magazine that dealt with environmental challenges, through 2016. It was founded in 1979 as The Amicus Journal. As Amicus, it won the George Polk Award in 1983 for special interest reporting.
Staff
The council's first president was John H. Adams, who served until 2006. He was replaced by Frances Beinecke, who served as president from 2006 to 2015. The third president was Rhea Suh, who served from 2015 to 2019.
In 2020, Gina McCarthy served as the CEO and president. She previously served as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama administration and became White House National Climate Advisor in the Biden administration in 2021. In 2021, NRDC selected Manish Bapna, formerly of the World Resources Institute, as their new president and CEO. At their web site NRDC state they have about 700 employees including scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates.
NRDC opposed the Water Rights Protection Act,
a bill that would prevent federal agencies from requiring certain
entities to relinquish their water rights to the United States in order
to use public lands.
Green jobs (green-collar jobs, sustainability jobs, eco jobs or environmental jobs) are, according to the United Nations Environment Program, "work in agricultural, manufacturing, research and development (R&D), administrative, and service activities that contribute(s) substantially to preserving or restoring environmental quality. Specifically, but not exclusively, this includes jobs that help to protect ecosystems and biodiversity;
reduce energy, materials, and water consumption through high efficiency
strategies; de-carbonize the economy; and minimize or altogether avoid
generation of all forms of waste and pollution." The environmental
sector has the dual benefit of mitigating environmental challenges as
well as helping economic growth.
Green jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, are
classified as, "jobs in business that produce goods or services that
benefit the environment or conserve natural resources"
or "jobs in which workers' duties involve making their establishment's
production processes more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural
resources".
The Bureau of Labor Statistics categorizes green jobs into the
following: water conservation, sustainable forestry, biofuels,
geothermal energy, environmental remediation, sustainability, energy auditors, recycling, electric vehicles, solar power, and wind energy.
These definitions include jobs which seek to use or develop renewable forms of energy (i.e. wind, hydropower, geothermal, landfill gas
and municipal solid waste) as well as increase their efficiency. Under
the green jobs domain education, training, and public awareness are also
included. These jobs seek to enforce regulations, support education,
and increase public influence for the benefit of the environment.
By role
This
list is not exhaustive, it lists some of the more common environmental
jobs and also some of the jobs which have see the fastest recent growth.
Agricultural scientist
Specialise
in agricultural productivity. They study commercial plants, animals and
cultivation techniques in order to improve the productivity and
sustainability of farms and agricultural industries and Agricultural scientists have a higher-than-average proportion of full-time jobs and earnings are above average.
Climate change scientist
Research and present data on the structure and dynamics of our climate system. Currently there is scientific consensus from a number of American scientific societies that the Earth's temperature is warming.
Conservation officer
Advance
and ensure protection of the natural environment and resources via
educating communities and encouraging involvement, and awareness.
The growth of these jobs along with forester jobs in the US is
predicted to be around 6 per cent (in line with average occupation
growth) from 2016 to 2026.
Ecologist
Investigate
ecosystems as a whole i.e. they investigate both the living and
non-living components of the environment. They study the various animals
and plants that live within an ecosystem and the relationship between
the two.
Electric car engineer
Use
science and maths to design and develop electric automobile technology.
They then undertake evaluations with respect to measure the safety,
efficiency, cost, reliability, and safety of these aforementioned
designs.
An Electric Car Engineer is just one of a number of possible jobs in
the electric vehicle industry and this type of Engineer will work in
teams with other types of Engineers to produce electric automobiles.
Environmental engineer
Examine
and mitigate the effects of human and other activities on both the
natural and built environment. This could include reducing pollution and
protecting the air, water, soil, and humans from actions which may harm
either them or the environment. According to CNBC, in 2018 across the world, this was one of the fastest growing environmental jobs.
The University of Portland recently reported that they will add a clean
energy technology minor to enable their environmental engineering
graduates ‘compete in an expanding environmental job market’.
Environmental scientist
They
examine the environment (for example by sampling the land, water, air
or other natural resources) and develop policies and plans designed to
prevent, control or reduce the harmful effects of human activity on the
environment. Also one of the fastest growing environmental jobs in the world in 2018 according to CNBC.
Environmental consultant
Analyse
and provide advice on policies and processes which guide the design,
implementation and modification of either commercial or government
environmental operations and programs.
Environmental consultants are often employed to ensure environmental
legislation is being adhered to during construction projects. Listed as one of the top ten fastest growing green jobs in Australia in 2018.
Environmental health officer
Measure
risk and develop, oversee, implement and monitor legislation which
governs public health for both the built and natural environment.
Environmental health officers carry out these aforementioned duties to
promote good human health and best practices environmentally. and. Also one of the fastest growing environmental jobs in Australia in 2018.
Environmental manager
Supervise
the environmental performance of private companies and public
institutions. They also formulate, execute and oversee environmental
strategies that encourage sustainable development.
An environmental manager can be employed by a single company to ensure
any negative environmental impacts caused by their operation are
minimised.
Forestry manager / forester
In a nutshell they are responsible for the cultivation of forests.
Map out and lead the planting, growth, harvesting and conservation of
forests for wood production. To ensure balance and sustainable
development Foresters may become involved the production of multipurpose
forests, sustainable forest management and the reforestation of native
woodlands. The growth of these jobs along with conservation officer jobs in the US
is predicted to be around 6 per cent (in line with average occupation
growth) from 2016 to 2026[34]
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, forests provide more than 86 million green jobs and support the livelihoods of many more people.
An estimated 880 million people worldwide spend part of their time
collecting fuelwood or producing charcoal, many of them women.
Human populations tend to be low in areas of low-income countries with
high forest cover and high forest biodiversity, but poverty rates in
these areas tend to be high. Some 252 million people living in forests and savannahs have incomes of less than USD 1.25 per day.
Green building designers
Design
buildings (they can be homes, offices, schools, hospitals, or any other
type of building) that in their design, construction or operation,
reduce or eliminate negative impacts, and can create positive impacts,
on our climate and natural environment. They also try to reduce negative environmental impacts in terms of reducing the contributions to landfill.
Marine biologist
Analyse the interplay of marine life (animals and plants) with coastal areas and the atmosphere. and Crucial today is their role in measuring the impact of climate change on our oceans and how much ocean acidification is present and potentially damaging our coral reef ecosystems.
Recycling worker
In
a typical recycling plant (MRF), the workers are sort labourers,
equipment operators, managers (various levels) and maintenance
mechanics. Also included are drivers who collect the recyclate from
residential, commercial, and non-hazardous industrial sources. Sort
labourers 'clean' the stream at various stages of the mechanized
sortation process to prevent equipment stoppages and produce bales
acceptable to the remanufacturing sector depending on the commodity
(metal, paper, cardboard, plastics, etc.). Equipment operators operate
heavy equipment designed to help with processes around the plant.
Typical equipment includes skid-steers (For cleaning up and moving large
amounts of material to bale), forklifts (to move bales and containers
of material to places within the plant collected from the sortation
process). Managers typically manage the operations/sales and human
resources of the MRF so the sortation process requiring sorters and
equipment operators runs properly day to day. Maintenance mechanics
work to ensure all equipment works properly (such as unjamming a
conveyor or fixing electronic equipment associated with the sortation
process).
Renewable energy engineer
Study
how to best supply energy from renewable or sustainable sources of
energy, such as wind energy, solar power wave energy and biofuels. They focus on ways of producing energy that are deemed to be safer for the environment. An energy engineer was listed as one of the fastest growing jobs in Australia in 2018.
Solar photovoltaic (PV) installers
Assemble and carry out the installation of solar panels on rooftops or other areas such as ground mounted solar panels. A growing industry for example, has seen job creation and on the job training by a non-profit called GRID Alternatives.
Urban grower / urban farmer
Responsible for growing food in a city or heavily populated town.
Green roof tops can provide locally sourced foods that help protect the
environment by reducing the use of pesticides, fossil fuels, and other
resources which are often used to grow and transport food to market from
larger commercial farms.
Water quality scientist
Ensure
that minimum standards of water quality are met and that these
standards ensure human safety and minimise harm to the natural
environment. Water quality scientists ensure that these global standards
and other compliance requirements are met in three areas - groundwater,
surface water (lakes, rivers, ponds, etc.), and drinking water.
"The fact that water is the lifeblood of our planet means that there
are thousands of opportunities for environmental workers in this area".
Wind energy technician
Wind
technicians install, inspect, maintain, operate and repair wind
turbines. Wind technicians have the knowledge to identify and fix issues
that could cause the turbine to be break or fail to operate as it
should. Globally one of the fastest growing environmental jobs in 2017. The U.S. Department of Energy
is working with six leading wind turbine manufacturers towards
achieving 20 per cent wind power in the United States by 2030. However,
the dropping number of students in power engineering programs in recent
years means that, the labour requirements needed to facilitate this aim
won't be met, unless this trend is reversed.
By country
Eco-innovation drives the creation of environmental jobs worldwide. It simultaneously increases labour productivity and wages while increasing energy and environmental production efficiency.
Australia
In 2018 Australia generated 21 per cent of its total power from renewables and this sector accounted for more than 20,000 jobs.
Brazil
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency
(IRENA) in 2016, Brazil has 934,000 renewable energy jobs, the second
highest in the world. While Brazil is the global leader in liquid
biofuels with a total of 845,000 jobs, it also has 41,000 jobs in solar,
36,000 jobs in wind, and 12,000 jobs in small hydro power. A report produced by IRENA in 2018 showed Brazil to have the largest liquid biofuel workforce, an 893,000 workers in the overall renewable energy industry.
In 2011, green employment accounted for 3.1 million jobs or 2.4 per
cent of total employment in 2010 and 3.4 million jobs or 2.6 per cent of
total US employment.
China
China
currently produces the most Photovoltaic equipment worldwide and is the
world's largest installation market. With respect to employment China
accounted for about two thirds of PV employment worldwide, or some 2.2
million jobs in 2018. With respect to total jobs in the renewable energy sector as a whole the number for China was 3.8 million in 2017.
Germany
Was the leading installer of PV Capacity Installations. until overtaken by China, The United States, India and Japan. In 2018 Germany had 332,000 workers in the renewable energy sector overall.
Japan
The Thought Leadership Series by the Copenhagen Climate Council
published a report in 2009, stating that Japanese solar PV
manufacturers represent 26 per cent of the global market and that the
solar industry is able to operate without dependence on subsidies. According to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency, Japanese solar PV jobs increased by 28 per cent in 2014.
In 2016, Japan was listed as the third largest employer of solar PV
jobs with 377,100 workers, based on direct and indirect labour.
In terms of renewable energy, Japan employs 3,000 jobs in liquid
biofuels, 5,000 jobs in wind power, 700 jobs in solar cooling and
heating, and 2,000 jobs in geothermal energy.
In 2018 Japan's slowing economy meant that employment in the solar PV
industry fell from 302,000 in 2016 to an estimated 272,000 jobs in 2017.
Wind
turbine service technicians are projected to continue to be the fastest
growing profession in the United States between 2017 and 2024
United States
In
2010 Green Goods and Services survey found there are 3.1 million Green
Goods and Services (GGS) jobs in the United States which accounts for
2.4 per cent of all United States salary and wage employment. The private sector had 2.3 million GGS jobs, and the public sector had 860,000 GGS jobs.
From 2010 the data indicates that green jobs are continuing to grow
rapidly in the United States. The US is currently undergoing an energy
revolution from coal fire power plants to renewable energy. The majority
of these additions are coming from three main resources: solar (9.5
GW), natural gas (8 GW), and wind (6.8 GW). Together, these three sources make up 93 per cent of total additions.
The shift from fossil fuels to renewables will be mirrored by US
employment as workers turn away from jobs like coal mining and towards
green jobs. This is made evident by a report published by the Bureau of Land Management
published 17 April 2017 that states wind turbine service technicians
are currently and projected to continue to be the fastest growing
profession in the United States between 2017 and 2024 with projected
growth of 108.0 per cent.
Reagan administration 1981-1989
President Reagan said, "Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do."
As governor of California, Reagan advocated on behalf of the
environment; a large portion of Californian constituents were
pro-environment. It states in the book The Enduring Wilderness,
"President Ronald Reagan signed more wilderness laws than any other
president - forty-three laws designating 10.6 million acres of
wilderness in thirty-one states."
President Reagan also set a new precedent as president by leasing over
twenty million acres of national land for coal, oil, and gas
development.
Bush administration 2001-2009
The
Business Energy Investment Tax credit is a federal policy introduced in
2005 under the Bush administration to promote implementation of green
energy sources through a 30 per cent federal tax return in both
residential and commercial projects. Individuals and companies were able
to apply credit for investments in green energy technologies including
solar, fuel cell and wind energy technology
The ITC has been extended multiple times, most recently in 2015 through
a multi-year extension that will maintain the 30 per cent return up
until 2019, afterward decreasing to 26 per cent until 2020 and 22 per
cent until 2021. After 2021, commercial credits would reduce to 10 per
cent and 0 per cent for residential projects. The Solar Energy
Industries Association has attributed stability in the growth of solar
energy industries in the U.S. to the implementation of the ITC since
2006.
Since the implementation of the ITC, the U.S. solar industry has
experienced growth in implementation of solar technology, mainly due to
the rapidly decreasing overhead costs as the solar industry was spurred
to production and development through the ITC.
The solar industry is projected to employ over 420,000 individuals by
2020- nearly double of the 260,000 solar workers in 2016- and contribute
$30 billion to the United States economy annually.
Obama administration 2009-2017
President Obama campaigned under the promise of creating 5 million new green jobs in the United States. President Obamas plan included the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES)
proposed a cap and trade system which would bring in revenue that would
be used to invest in clean energy technology creating 5 million new
jobs
The bill was passed through the house but never made it to the senate
floor and therefore was never written into law. Secondly, due to the
2013 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act the federal government "discontinued measuring all green jobs" which makes tracking job growth extremely difficult.
Although it is unclear if President Obama met his 5 million jobs
goal, there was significant growth under his administration. As of March
2016 according to a nonpartisan group, Environmental Entrepreneurs,
there were 2.5 million jobs in clean energy with 77,088 jobs solely in
the wind industry.
During this period of time employment in the solar field was also on
the rise. According to the 2015 National Solar Census 2015 marked the
third consecutive year in which solar growth was at 20 per cent.
Additionally, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
(ARRA), passed in early 2009, includes provisions for new jobs in
industries such as energy, utilities, construction, and manufacturing
with a focus toward energy efficiency and more environmentally-friendly practices.
On 23 January 2017 President Trump
signed an executive order, "Presidential Memorandum Regarding the
Hiring Freeze", regarding a hiring freeze on government positions across
the executive branch.
Trump placed a hold on grants distributed through the EPA that could
amount to $4 billion per year. The measure was recanted days later, but
Trump has proclaimed his intent to "drastically cut the EPA". Myron Ebell, a former member of the Trump transition team, when asked about United States Environmental Protection Agency cuts in an interview with Associated Press, responded "Let's aim [to cut] for half and see how it works out, and then maybe we'll want to go further."
In the 2018 "Make America Great Again Blueprint", the Trump
administration projected EPA funding cuts of 31 per cent and
discontinued funding for the Clean Power Plan, international climate
change programs, and climate change research and partnership programs.
Policy
Flag of the United Nations which jointly launched the Green Jobs Initiative
Data collection and upkeep on Green Goods and Services (GGS) jobs
has been discontinued due to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit
Control Act in 2013. All "measuring green jobs" programs in the US
government were eliminated by this Act.
USA Green Jobs Act 2007
The Green Jobs Act of 2007 (H.R. 2847), introduced by Reps. Hilda Solis (D-CA) and John Tierney
(D-MA), "authorized up to $125 million in funding to establish national
and state job training programs, administered by the U.S. Department of
Labor, to help address job shortages that are impairing growth in green
industries, such as energy efficient buildings and construction,
renewable electric power, energy efficient vehicles, and biofuels
development." The Energy Independence and Security Act passed in December 2007 incorporates the Green Jobs Act of 2007.
Pathways out of Poverty
Pathways out of Poverty (POP) is a national workforce training program that was established on 14 August 2009 by the Obama administration and funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
(ARRA) of 2009. POP targets individuals living below or near the
poverty level to provide them with skills needed to enter the green job
market, focusing on the energy efficiency and renewable energy
industries. The training programs focus on teaching basic literacy and
job readiness skills. Some of the programs also provide supportive
assistance with childcare and transportation to overcome barriers to
employment.
MillionTrees NYC Training Program
(MTTP) provides job training opportunities specifically to low-income, job insecure
18-24 year-olds who have a high school degree or GED. In 2009, secure
full-time salaries of twice the New York State minimum wage of $7.25
were provided to graduates of MTTP by a grant from the US Forest Service.
Out of the 16 employed graduates that were interviewed for a study by
USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station, 75 per cent were male, 25
per cent were female, 81 per cent were black, 19 per cent were brown,
75 per cent had a high school diploma, 19 per cent had a GED, and 6 per
cent went to some high school. Most employees with personal support who
graduate from MTTP stay in their green job; not all employees have
personal support networks.
Demographics
According to the Green Equity Toolkit by Race Forward, green jobs are disproportionately occupied by white men. Historically, the environmental movement has been white, middle- and upper-class.
In 1990, minorities consisted of 1.9 per cent (14 out of the 745) of
workers for four of the largest environmental organizations (Natural Resources Defense Council, Friends of the Earth, Audubon Society, and Sierra Club);
out of sixty-three mainstream environmental organizations, 32 per cent
had no minorities staffed, 22 per cent had no board members of colour,
19 per cent had no volunteers of colour, 16 per cent had no members of
colour.
According to a journal in the Ecology Law Quarterly published in 1992,
white people disproportionately occupy green jobs since said jobs
address environmental concerns not confronted by low-income people and
people of colour. Environmental lawyers
(who are disproportionately white, middle- and upper-class) focus on
environmental issues based on aesthetics, recreation, and protecting
natural lands outside of their communities; they often do not face
environmental problems in their communities. Low-income
communities and people of colour who face environmental problems, such
as pollution, do not often have access or will to seek green jobs due to
the immediate health hazards in their communities. Instead of green
jobs, they often engage in grassroots environmental activism to prevent
mortality in their communities from toxicities, such as superfund sites,
landfills, incinerators and other health hazards.
A report published in 2014 titled, The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations,
states there has been increasing racial diversity over the past 50
years, but at a disproportionately slow rate. People of colour consist
of 38 per cent of the US population and do not exceed 16 per cent of the
staff of the environmental organizations studied (191 conservation and
preservation organizations, 74 government environmental agencies, 28
environmental grant-making foundations). Employed ethnic minorities
disproportionately occupy lower-ranked positions in environmental
organizations and fewer than 13 per cent occupy leadership positions. A
small number of environmental organizations have a diversity manager,
diversity committee, or collaborate with low-income or ethnic
organizations. Environmental organizations rarely recruit from
minority-serving institutions, minority professional gatherings, and
other pipelines with talented minorities. Minority interns to
environmental organizations are hired less often than their white
counterparts. Promotions often go to white females in environmental
organizations.
Green jobs and workforce education
The
National Council for Workforce Education and AED published a report,
"Going Green: The Vital Role of Community Colleges in Building a
Sustainable Future and Green Workforce" that examines how workforce
education and community colleges contribute to the overall efforts in
the move toward renewable and clean energy. The report gives examples of
initiatives currently in effect nationally as well as offering
information as to how to implement programs.
The nuclear power
industry is also growing and contributing to the green job sector. The
World Nuclear Association released a report in July 2020 titled
"Employment in the Nuclear and Wind Electricity Generating Sectors".
Overall, the report found that a 100 GWe nuclear fleet will employ
perhaps more than three times as many workers as a wind fleet of the
same capacity.
These statistics highlight growing opportunities for green jobs in the
nuclear industry. Green jobs are attractive options as they directly
address the climate crisis
while also providing competitive pay and good benefits. Nuclear power
specifically has the potential of creating thousands of high skilled,
long term, local jobs.
In response to high unemployment and a distressed economy workers
need skills that are relevant to their specific geographical locations.
"Instead of making green jobs we need to make jobs green" says Ken
Warden, an administrator in workforce education.
There are many different solar industry jobs. The SEIA maintains a resource for those looking for solar jobs.
A 2016 study indicates that the declining coal industry could protect their workers by retraining them for the solar industry. There are also some indications that the solar industry "welcomes coal workers with open arms".
For the forest sector, the Team of Specialists (ToS) from the
Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) mapped out potential green jobs in the forest sector. The ToS identified 19 fields of activities with 30 examples of forestry jobs listed.
Refugee employment refers to the employment of refugees. Gaining access to legal paid work can be a requirement for asylum status or citizenship in a host country
and may be done with or without the assistance of non-governmental
organizations. In some specific cases, refugees may also be given work
by NGO's while en route to their intended destination (so working a
country in between the intended destination country and the origin
country). The latter may occur, if the intended destination country have
closed their borders to migrants, and if staying in the origin country
isn't an option either (i.e. due to lack of economic opportunities,
climate change impact or insecurity in the origin country).
Refugee workforce integration
Refugees
are often faced with under-employment, unemployment and employment in
informal economy. In this sense, many researchers and practitioners call
for not just simple refugee employment, but a successful refugee
workforce integration. Refugee workforce integration
is understood to be a process in which refugees engage in economic
activities (employment or self-employment), which are commensurate with
individuals' professional goals and previous qualifications and
experience, and provide adequate economic security and prospects for
career advancement.
These barriers are sometimes called the canvass ceiling, by analogy to the glass ceiling for women.
Refugee international adjustment
International
adjustment is a process of achieving a “fit between [individuals] and
the new environment in both work and non-work domains.”
Article 17 requires that countries should give refugees the same
rights to employment as citizens and exempt refugees from restrictions
applied to foreigners if they fulfill one of the following conditions:
He has completed three years’ residence in the country;
He has a spouse possessing the nationality of the country of
residence. A refugee may not invoke the benefits of this provision if he
has abandoned his spouse;
He has one or more children possessing the nationality of the country of residence.
Article 18 states that refugees are allowed the same rights to self-employment as foreigners in the country.
Article 19 allows for refugees with diplomas that are recognized by
the authorities of the state should be accorded the same treatment as
foreigners in the country.
Various countries may also have additional requirements or laws to
gain employment. It can still be difficult for refugees to gain legal
employment even in countries that have signed the convention.
Individuals usually need to have refugee status before they are
allowed to gain employment. Countries usually have their own asylum
processes to accord refugee status. In the US, this means getting
approved by the United States Refugee Admissions Program. In several countries, refugee status is determined by UNHCR.
Some countries such as the UK, Australia, Canada, Chile, Greece,
Mexico, Norway and Sweden also allow asylum-seekers to gain access to
employment before they get refugee status if they meet certain
conditions.
Other countries such as Germany also allow individuals whose refugee
applications have been rejected but are unable to return home to access
legal employment.
Some countries like Malaysia that are not signatories to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees have indicated willingness to allow refugee employment. However, in most countries that are non-signatories to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees
and particularly in developing countries, refugees are not allowed to
work legally. Many refugees in these countries still work but do so in
the informal economy.
Arguments
Refugee employment benefits
Refugee
employment is regarded as one of the ways to help refugees integrate
into the host country. Employment helps to increase refugee’s
self-reliance and dependence on social services.
Employment would also help to increase access to other essential
services such as healthcare and education. On the overall, it would lead
to improved standards of living.
Hiring refugees can benefit businesses too. Refugees tend to have
lower turnover rates than locals and helps reduce the business cost of
rehiring.
The host country usually also benefits as refugees gain legal
employment, it helps to grow the economy and increase the tax base.
Studies have estimated the impact of legalizing immigrant employment on
US economic growth to be 0.8% or about $15.2 billion per year.
A similar study in Malaysia estimates the impact of legalizing
employment for refugees to be RM3 billion in GDP growth by 2024 and an
increase of RM50 million in tax receipts. This happens through various mechanisms, including increased consumer spending from refugees who have improved incomes.
Correspondingly, the growth of the economy is also expected to
create new jobs. This is particularly as refugees tend to fill lower
value jobs which are usually also jobs that locals shun in developed
countries. This makes businesses more productive and creates industry
growth. It also encourages locals to specialize and upgrade to higher value jobs.
Where refugees are allowed to start businesses, they also create jobs
that employ locals. A study estimates in Turkey, that Syrian
entrepreneurs hire 9.4 employees, most of whom are Turkish natives.
Refugee employment challenges
A
UNHCR-OCED Report identifies challenges with respect to refugee
employment. Refugees are often unable to find employment due to a lack
of information on the opportunities in the host country. Job matching
and job seeking assistance is usually required to help refugees gain
employment.
Cultural barriers often exist in the work environment and in the
society. Refugees often face discrimination and resistance in host
countries and refugee employment tends to be viewed as competition for citizens.
Employed refugees are at risk of exploitation, particularly in
countries where they lack legal access to employment. This tends to be
exacerbated partly because they lack knowledge of the home country’s
laws and their rights. This ranges from employers withholding access to
social security and utilization of child labor. In response, the United Nation Human Rights Commissioner has called for countries to treat refugees as right holders.
Employers may also be hesitant to employ refugees because they
are unclear about the refugee employment laws in their countries and
consequently take the conservative approach of not hiring refugees.
Other challenges include a lack of clarity of the duration of stay of
the refugees and a mismatch of skills from the employer and the
refugees.
Companies often also do not see a business case for hiring refugees. Many view hiring refugees as a Corporate Social Responsibility obligation rather than being beneficial to the business.
An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the legal definitions of a refugee.
Villagers fleeing gunfire in a camp for internally displaced persons during the 2008 Nord-Kivu warUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with in internally displaced people during the Russian invasion of UkraineOkie mother and children, internally displaced by the Dust Bowl in the United States in the 1930s.
In 2022, it was estimated there were 70.5 million IDPs worldwide. The first year for which global statistics on IDPs are available was in 1989. As of 3 May 2022, the countries with the largest IDP populations were Ukraine (8 million), Syria (7.6 million), Ethiopia (5.5 million), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (5.2 million), Colombia (4.9 million), Yemen (4.3 million), Afghanistan (3.8 million), Iraq (3.6 million), Sudan (2.2 million), South Sudan (1.9 million), Pakistan (1.4 million), Nigeria (1.2 million) and Somalia (1.1 million). More than 85% of Palestinians in Gaza (1.9 million) were internally displaced as of January 2024.
Whereas 'refugee' has an authoritative definition under the 1951 Refugee Convention,
there is no universal legal definition of internally displaced persons
(IDP); only a regional treaty for African countries (see Kampala Convention). However, a United Nations report, Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement uses the definition of:
persons or groups of persons who have been forced or
obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence,
in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed
conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights
or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an
internationally recognized State border.
While the above stresses two important elements of internal
displacement (coercion and the domestic/internal movement), rather than a
strict definition the Guiding Principles offer "a descriptive
identification of the category of persons whose needs are the concern of
the Guiding Principles". In this way, the document "intentionally steers toward flexibility rather than legal precision"
as the words "in particular" indicate that the list of reasons for
displacement is not exhaustive. However, as Erin Mooney has pointed out,
"global statistics on internal displacement generally count only IDPs
uprooted by conflict and human rights violations. Moreover, a recent
study has recommended that the IDP concept should be defined even more
narrowly, to be limited to persons displaced by violence."
This outlook has become outdated, however, as natural disasters and
slow-onset climate degradation have become the primary driving force
behind internal displacement in recent years, although conflict remains
the primary reason for pre-existing IDPs overall. Climate displaced IDPs are therefore being given more attention overall
through being recorded in statistics. Thus, despite the non-exhaustive
reasons for internal displacement, many consider IDPs as those who would
be defined as refugees if they were to cross an international border,
hence, the term refugees in all but the name is often applied to IDPs.
IDP populations
It
is very difficult to get accurate figures for internally displaced
persons because populations are not constant. IDPs may be returning home
while others are fleeing, and others may periodically return to IDP
camps to take advantage of humanitarian aid. While the case of IDPs in
large camps such as those in Darfur, western Sudan, are relatively
well-reported, it is very difficult to assess those IDPs who flee to
larger towns and cities. It is necessary for many instances to
supplement official figures with additional information obtained from
operational humanitarian organizations on the ground. Thus, the 24.5
million figure must be treated as an estimate. Additionally, most official figures only include those displaced by conflict or natural disasters. Development-induced IDPs often are not included in assessments. It has been estimated that between 70 and 80% of all IDPs are women and children.
50% of internally displaced people and refugees were thought to
be in urban areas in 2010, many of them in protracted displacement with
little likelihood of ever returning home. A 2013 study found that these
protracted urban displacements had not been given due weight by
international aid and governance as historically they had focused on
rural cam displacement responses.
The study argues that this protracted urban displacement needs a
fundamental change in the approach to those who are displaced and their
host societies. They note that re-framing responses to urban
displacement will also involve human rights and development
actors and local and national governments. They call for a change in
the narrative around the issue is needed to reflect ingenuity and
fortitude displayed by displaced populations, the opportunities for
self-sufficiency and safety represented by urban areas, and that the
displaced can make a contribution to their host societies. An updated country by country breakdown can be found online.
Latest IDP population
The following table is a list of countries and territories by the number of Internally Displaced People (IDPs). According to Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
(IDMC), the internal displacement figures refer to the number of forced
movements of people within the borders of their country recorded during
the year, and may include individuals who have been displaced more than
once. The total number of IDPs is a snapshot of all the people living
in internal displacements at the end of the year, and is the sum of the
number of conflict IDPs and disaster IDPs.
Historical IDP populations
Official opening of MONUSCO's
photo exhibition organized in the framework of the 70th anniversary of
the United Nations. In the photo are the Head of MONUSCO, Martin Kobler (1st left), Lambert Mende (middle), and the Director of MONUSCO Public Information Division, Charles Antoine Bambara, commenting on a picture showing an internally displaced person.Serbian and other non-Albanian refugees during Kosovo War. Serbia is home to highest number of refugees and IDPs in Europe.
Protection and assistance
The
problem of protecting and assisting IDPs is not a new issue. In
international law it is the responsibility of the government concerned
to provide assistance and protection for the IDPs in their country.
However, as many of the displaced are a result of civil conflict and
violence or where the authority of the central state is in doubt, there
is no local authority willing to provide assistance and protection.
It has been estimated that some 5 million IDPs in 11 countries are
"without any significant humanitarian assistance from their
governments."
Under these circumstances rehabilitation policies on humanitarian
grounds should be aimed at reducing inequality of opportunity among
these vulnerable groups by integrating them into local social services
and allowing them access to jobs, education, and healthcare
opportunities; otherwise new conflicts might break out.
Unlike the case of refugees, there is no international
humanitarian institution which has the overall responsibility of
protecting and assisting the refugees as well as the internally
displaced. A number of organizations have stepped into the breach in
specific circumstances.
UNHCR
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) was mandated by General Assembly Resolution 428 (V) of 14
December 1950 to "lead and coordinate international action for the
worldwide protection of refugees and the resolution of refugee
problems.... guided by the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol." The UNHCR has traditionally argued that it does not have an exclusive mandate for IDPs
even though at least since 1972 it had relief and rehabilitation
programs for those displaced within a country. Until the mid-2000s, it
conditioned involvement to cases where there is a specific request by
the UN Secretary-General and with the consent of the State concerned it
has been willing to respond by assisting IDPs in a given instance. In 2005 it was helping some 5.6 million IDPs (out of over 25 million), but only about 1.1 million in Africa.
In 2005, the UNHCR signed an agreement with other humanitarian
agencies. "Under this agreement, UNHCR will assume the lead
responsibility for protection, emergency shelter and camp management for
internally displaced people."
In 2019, UNHCR issued an updated IDP policy that reaffirms its
commitment to engaging decisively and predictably in situations of
internal displacement.
ICRC
The International Committee of the Red Cross has a mandate of ensuring the application of international humanitarian law
as it affects civilians in the midst of armed conflict. They have
traditionally not distinguished between civilians who are internally
displaced and those who remain in their homes. In a 2006 policy
statement, the ICRC stated:
The ICRC's overall objective is to alleviate the
suffering of people who are caught up in armed conflict and other
situations of violence. To that end, the organization strives to provide
effective and efficient assistance and protection for such persons, be
they displaced or not, while taking into consideration the action of
other humanitarian organizations. On the basis of its long experience in
different parts of the world, the ICRC has defined an operational
approach towards the civilian population as a whole that is designed to
meet the most urgent humanitarian needs of both displaced persons and
local and host communities.
However, its Director of Operations has earlier recognized that IDPs
"deprived of shelter and their habitual sources of food, water, medicine
and money, they have different, and often more urgent, material needs."
The original collaborative approach has come under increasing criticism. Roberta Cohen reports:
Nearly every UN and independent evaluation has found the
collaborative approach deficient when it comes to IDPs. To begin with,
there is no real focus of responsibility in the field for assisting and
protecting... There is also no predictability of action, as the
different agencies are free to pick and choose the situations in which
they wish to become involved on the basis of their respective mandates,
resources, and interests. In every new emergency, no one knows for sure
which agency or combination thereof will become involved.
In
2005 there was an attempt to fix the problem by giving sectoral
responsibilities to different humanitarian agencies, most notably with
the UNHCR taking on the responsibility for the protection and the
management of camps and emergency shelters. The Forced Migration Review
stated that the "abnegation of responsibility is possible because there
is no formal responsibility apportioned to agencies under the
Collaborative Response, and thus no accountability when agencies renege
on their promises."
Similarly, research on refugees has suggested a cross-sector collaboration as a key means to assist displaced people.
Cluster approach
The cluster approach designates individual agencies as 'sector
leaders' to coordinate operations in specific areas to try to plug those
newly identified gaps. The cluster approach was conceived amid concerns
about coordination and capacity that arose from the weak operational
response to the crisis in Darfur in 2004 and 2005, and the critical
findings of the Humanitarian Response Review (HRR) commissioned by the
then ERC, Jan Egeland. Egeland called for strengthening the leadership
of the sectors, and introduced the concept of "clusters" at different
levels (headquarters, regional, country and operational)'.
The cluster approach operates on the global and local levels. At
the global level, the approach is meant to build up capacity in eleven
key 'gap' areas by developing better surge capacity, ensuring consistent
access to appropriately trained technical expertise and enhanced
material stockpiles, and securing the increased engagement of all
relevant humanitarian partners. At the field level, the cluster approach
strengthens the coordination and response capacity by mobilizing
clusters of humanitarian agencies (UN/Red Cross-Red Crescent/IOs/NGOs)
to respond in particular sectors or areas of activity, each cluster
having a clearly designated and accountable lead, as agreed by the HC
and the Country Team. Designated lead agencies at the global level both
participate directly in operations, but also coordinate with and oversee
other organizations within their specific spheres, reporting the
results up through a designated chain of command to the ERC at the
summit. However, lead agencies are responsible as "providers of last
resort", which represents the commitment of cluster leads to do their
utmost to ensure an adequate and appropriate response in their
respective areas of responsibility. The cluster approach was part of a
package of reforms accepted by the IASC in December 2005 and
subsequently applied in eight chronic humanitarian crises and six
sudden-onset emergencies. However, the reform was originally rolled out
and evaluated in four countries: DRC, Liberia, Somalia and Uganda.
The clusters were originally concentrated in nine areas:
Shelter (IFRC for natural disasters; UNHCR for conflict situations)
Health (WHO)
Nutrition (UNICEF)
Water, sanitation, and hygiene promotion (UNICEF)
Early recovery (UNDP); and
Protection (UNHCR for conflict-generated IDPs, UNHCR, UNICEF, and OHCHR for natural disaster-generated IDPs).
IASC Principles deemed it unnecessary to apply the cluster approach
to four sectors where no significant gaps were detected: a) food, led by
WFP; b) refugees, led by UNHCR; c) education, led by UNICEF; and d)
agriculture, led by FAO.
The original nine clusters were later expanded to include agriculture and education.
International law
Unlike
the case of refugees, there is no international universal treaty which
applies specifically to IDPs. Only a regional treaty for African
countries has been established (see Kampala Convention).
Some other countries have advocated re-thinking the definitions and
protections for refugees to apply to IDPs, but so far no solid actions
have come to fruition. Recognizing the gap, the UN Secretary-General, Boutros-Ghali appointed Francis Deng
in 1992 as his representative for internally displaced persons.
Besides acting as an advocate for IDPs, Deng set out in 1994, at the
request of the UN General Assembly to examine and bring together
existing international laws which relate to the protection of IDPs. The result of this work was the document, Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.
The Guiding Principles lay out the responsibilities of states
before displacement – that is, to prevent displacement – during and
after displacement. They have been endorsed by the UN General Assembly,
the African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) and by the
signatories to the 2006 Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region, which include Sudan, DRC and Uganda.
The Guiding Principles, however, are non-binding. As Bahame Tom
Nyanduga, Special Rapporteur on Refugees, IDPs and Asylum Seekers in
Africa for the ACHPR has stated, "the absence of a binding international
legal regime on internal displacement is a grave lacuna in
international law."
In September 2004 the Secretary-General of the UN showed the
continuing concern of his office by appointing Walter Kälin as his
Representative on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons.
Part of his mandate includes the promoting of the Guiding Principles.
Right of return
In
so-called "post-conflict" situations, there has traditionally been an
emphasis in the international community to seek to return to the pre-war
status quo.
However, opinions are gradually changing, because violent conflict
destroys political, economic and social structures and new structures
develop as a result, quite often irreversibly.
Furthermore, returning to the pre-war status-quo may actually be
undesirable if pre-war structures led to the conflict in the first
place, or prevented its early resolution. IDPs' and refugees' right of return can represent one of the most complex aspects of this issue.
Normally, pressure is applied by the international community and humanitarian organization to ensure displaced people are able to return to their areas of origin and the same property.
The UN Principles for Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and
IDPs, otherwise known as the Pinheiro Principles, provides guidance on
the management of the technical and legal aspects of housing, land and
property (HLP) restitution. Restitution
rights are of key importance to IDPs and refugees around the world, and
important to try preventing aggressors benefiting from conflict.
However, without a clear understanding of each local context, full
restitution rights can be unworkable and fail to protect the people it
is designed to protect for the following reasons, refugees and IDPs:
may never have had property (e.g. in Afghanistan);
cannot access what property they have (Colombia, Guatemala, South Africa and Sudan);
ownership is unclear as families have expanded or split and division of the land becomes an issue;
death of the owner may leave dependents without a clear claim to the land;
people settled on the land know it is not theirs but have nowhere else to go (as in Colombia, Rwanda and Timor-Leste); and
have competing claims with others, including the state and its
foreign or local business partners (as in Aceh, Angola, Colombia,
Liberia and Sudan)
Researchers at the Overseas Development Institute stress the need for humanitarian organization
to develop greater expertise in these issues, using experts who have
knowledge in both humanitarian and land and property issues and so
provide better advice to state actors seeking to resolve these issues.
The ODI calls on humanitarian agencies to develop an awareness of
sustainable reintegration as part of their emphasis on returning IDPs
and refugees home. Legal advice needs to be provided to all parties involved even if a framework is created in which to resolve these issues.
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