The Precipice:
We stand on the precipice of a profound global shift, accelerated by climate change. The equatorial belt, once teeming with biodiversity, is under severe threat of becoming uninhabitable, pushing us to rethink our understanding of demographic and moral necessities, which will arise rapidly as climate refugees head into the Global North.
This crisis underscores the inversion of the historical colonial legacy, posing serious implications for the Global North. At the most basic level, the destruction of habitable zones in the equatorial regions is an extension of colonial destruction of local life and culture by Western neoliberal capitalism. The neoliberal West has consistently exploited and profited from ecological destruction, often in poorer regions of the Global South. Furthermore, the countries now being the worst affected are also the regions that contribute the least to the causes of climate extinction (IPCC, 2023. UNCCC, 2021). Thus, equatorial inhabitants are not only perpetually victimized by neoliberal externalities, but they have also done little to cause the problem.
This is the moral dimension which the Global North must accept responsibility for, and this moral obligation will require incorporation in the institutions and juridical apparatus of states within the global north given that immigration is a legal actuality with normative first order moral concepts involved. The primary question becomes – what does an actual inversion of colonialism mean? It is more than decolonial theory, but rather, requires a systematic, technical, and ethical deconstruction, dismantlement, and renegotiation aimed at the reversal of colonialism while at the same time the demographic absorption of possibly billions of people fleeing to the Global North.
Illusions about walls, policies, and the notion of an orderly and selective capacity of states in the Global North to determine who they wish to accept into their borders and under what context is woefully naïve. It has to be abandoned altogether. Either massive inflow of climate refugees will tear down those walls, or genocidal atrocities to control those walls will be needed. Neither is tenable. The endgame of militarized borders would be a war against refugees whose sheer numbers would overwhelm and destabilize any nation state. Proactive, rather than reactive policies will be needed to aid, process, and assimilate refugees numbering hundreds of millions in waves after waves.
While mass refugees and immigrations moving north in the largest demographic shift in human history is a technico-legal issue, it cannot be done without understanding the moral obligation of Global Northern colonizers, to not only allow in any and all refugees, but to make citizens and leaders in those countries understand, feel, and believe in a moral obligation to do so. Without that moral component then what occurred in Europe in 2010-2020, destabilizing EU states, triggering the ill-fated Brexit etc, is merely a taste of what would happen in the near future.
By integrating decolonial theory, climate data, and exploring the intersection of these components, we can better understand the implications of equatorial habitability crisis and the urgent need for the Global North to act pre-emptively to prepare their societies to literally change overnight, which they will. Grounded in decolonial theory, this article dives into the concept of ‘nomos’ from De Silva’s “Toward a Global Idea of Race” (2007), Mbembe’s ‘necropolitics’ (2003), and alarming findings of the IPCC assessment reports, to elucidate this moral and demographic reversal in the Global North and its necessitated action.
The Crisis at Hand: Equatorial Unhabitability:
The escalating impacts of climate change have rendered equatorial zones increasingly hostile for habitation, threatening the livelihoods of billions of people. Intensified temperatures, frequent extreme weather events, and growing water scarcity are culminating to shape an inhabitable environment. Such grave consequences of climate change are consistently reported in the IPCC’s assessment reports (IPCC, 2021), serving as a stark reminder of the crisis we face.
To unpack the moral and demographic reversal will require utilization of decolonial theory, along with new and yet to be considered theories which can go beyond the “de” and into a new generative theoretical landscape that hybridizes, infuses, incorporates, and negotiates what it means to move whole societies from one place to another in ways that respect human dignity, quality of life, rights, and which can challenge resistant state capacity to deny inflowing immigrants that each nation of the Global North has caused to flee their homes.
Decolonial theory aids in challenging the colonial structures of power, exploitation, and control that continue to shape our present reality. Theorists like De Silva (2007) and Mbembe (2003) have significantly contributed to the decolonial discourse, unveiling colonialism’s enduring legacies and prompting a critical understanding of the looming crisis. The task before social science is how to build from decolonial foundations in ways that do not reproduce the structural legacies of colonialism, nor rely on the logic, reason, and rationalities (i.e., nomos) or the Global North to say what is and is not morally appropriate ways for such states to act in response to climate refugees.
Colonialism’s Legacy: Environmental and Social Exploitation:
As De Silva (2007) explains, “The global idea of race emerged as a strategy of containment in the face of the disruptive pressure of the desires unleashed by the circulation of capital.” The Global North’s prosperity was built on the extraction of resources and domination over the Global South, illustrating De Silva’s concept of colonial ‘nomos.’ This economic and racial rationalization of exploitation continues to echo, fostering poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation in equatorial regions.
Yet here we also have an instructive clue – how can climate refugees be empowered to develop and incorporate their own nomos of their conditions, and how can such nomos help renegotiate laws and governments in the Global North such that even before the immigrants begin to arrive by the millions, they are already playing a discursive, theoretical, scientific, and legal role in their new homes across the Global North.
Second, the concept of race, in De Silva’s work is part and parcel to the nomos, or the veridiction of western ways of viewing, classifying, naming, and claiming the world upon which it unleashed the colonial apparatus and its brutality. The only way to avoid that brutality in the future reversal, is to discard the colonial associative of race in the way it was used by domination to determine who should benefit, and who should be denied, and who should be destroyed as the Global North pursued and exploited resources through the world.
Perhaps the most urgent consideration is how to incorporate the framing and welcoming of climate refugees as an “Ultimate Act” of redistributive justice and reparations. This reframing can bridge the gap between the demographic challenge on the technical end, and the moral responsibility of the Global North to allow their societies to be radically changed by millions flowing into their countries, on the other. But race first must be seen for what it is – not an objective concept, but a tool, a rationale, and as an excuse to brutalize the “others” from whom the Global North has been stealing all along. Simply acknowledging that and letting the “others” declare their own rationalities and capacities to define who and what they are would go a long way in making a start.
Imagine, for example, if instead of trillions spent on a militarized southern border, the US used those resources to actively seek and learn from inhabitants of central America about how the US can best assist in not only allowing the influx of the refugees, but how to create a country that represents their interests, that offers institutions they will need, and incorporates their own cultural views and rationalities into the juridical, ethical, and structure fabric of the nation.
Scientific Evidence: A Plea for Urgency:
The IPCC’s assessment reports present an alarming picture of the escalating climate crisis. Rising sea levels, increased frequency of extreme weather events, and global warming are the stark realities faced by equatorial regions (IPCC, 2021). This empirical evidence underscores the urgency of the situation and the necessity of swift, substantive climate action.
De Silva’s concept of ‘nomos’ provides a theoretical tool for understanding the nexus of climate change and colonial legacies. She posits that ‘nomos’ – the colonial rationality that dictates racial and economic hierarchies – has given rise to an unsustainable relationship with our environment (De Silva, 2007). Western nomos, which has divided the world into objects which can be bought, sold, transformed, and utilized to profit and benefit the few, is no longer a working or rationally sustainable view of the world. But to alter that worldview will require not western thought, but indigenous knowledge, knowledge of the afflicted, and the incorporation of an entirely new way of seeing the Earth and life on Earth in ways that fundamentally reject the way the West currently sees the world. No small task – but a necessary one regardless, if our species is to survive.
This renegotiation of our entire western viewpoint, sciences, logics, and beliefs necessitates a profound deconstruction and reconstruction of our socio-economic structures, our languages, our erudite systems of knowledge, and a foundational shift in our claims of “truth” along with a completely rearticulation of human relations to the environment.
Necropolitics and Climate Justice:
Mbembe’s concept of ‘necropolitics’ (2003) illuminates the power dynamics dictating who lives, who dies, and who is allowed to thrive, further shedding light on the climate crisis’s moral implications. By recognizing this, the Global North is confronted with its responsibility towards those who have been subjected to climatic necropolitics, thus demanding a redress for the systemic inequalities perpetuated by colonialism. This insight serves as a catalyst for climate justice and underscores the need for institutional and legal changes in the Global North.
There is a deep moral question here which everyone in the Global North must consider – what give us the right to determine who lives, who dies, who can flourish, and who is exploitable? This is a “right” which the west (and particularly white men of history) has granted exclusively to themselves. It came from nothing but their own minds, and it is no more valid than any other way of seeing the world. There is no rational basis for its dominance. Instead, this ideology was fixed in place by some of the most genocidal, inhumane, and brutal forms of violence that humans have ever inflicted upon one another. Thus, it is not only irrational, but also immoral.
In actual practice, whether Global Northern societies accept this fact or not will make no difference when billions of people are coming north, one way or another. Thus, the only rational response is to accept and make use of the idea that how the Global North sees and experiences the world is an immoral fantasy which is quickly going to end.
The impending uninhabitability of equatorial zones will cause unprecedented demographic shifts as billions of climate refugees seek refuge in the Global North. If unprepared, these migrations could destabilize societies, thereby making it crucial for the Global North to begin preparing for this shift by reforming laws and systems in anticipation of climate-induced migrations (IPCC, 2021).
Theorizing Reversal: From Colonialism to Decolonization:
This demographic and moral reversal challenges the logic that justified colonial exploitation. Inverting this logic demands a radical rethink of the power dynamics between the Global North and South, paving the way for decolonization. As Mbembe (2003) notes, “Decolonization never takes place unnoticed, for it influences individuals and modifies them fundamentally.”
Addressing this reversal requires a critical self-consciousness and commitment to decolonization within the Global North’s state institutions. This involves dismantling systemic and legal structures born out of colonial ‘nomos,’ reimagining international laws to acknowledge climate-induced migration, and prioritizing policies that uphold climate justice and equitable resource distribution. Therefore, the first phase is one of recognitions which can only come through decolonial means and understandings. The sooner the better, for beyond that understanding will require altogether new theories and praxes capable of shifting the entire foundation of Global Northern understanding.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, what I want to express is that no matter what the global inhabitant of the north think, believe, or decide, the inevitable shift and radical alterations of their nations and cultures are immanent. Whether the Global North embraces billions fleeing uninhabitable zones or no, will not matter, because they are coming regardless. Thus, the question is not about whether or not this can be allowed, but rather, how to make the sheer inescapability of mass refugees heading north and ethical responsibility which can be preemptively eased? Obviously, new theory, knowledge, constructs, sciences, and imaginings are required that can jettison western nomos, and embrace a new world of the multitudes. Maybe ethics is the simpler way to begin, to prepare, and to educate the Global North as a place to start.
The Global North bears the moral responsibility to confront its colonial past and the current climate crisis, both inextricably linked. It is incumbent upon the Global North to initiate institutional changes, embrace climate justice, and anticipate the demographic shifts that climate change will inevitably bring. It is only through this introspection, recognition, and proactive response that we can mitigate radical destabilization, facilitate a smooth transition, and construct a future defined by justice, equity, and sustainability.
Further reading
Da Silva, Denise Ferreira. Toward a global idea of race. Vol. 27. U of Minnesota Press, 2007.
Mbembe, A. (2006). Necropolitics. Raisons politiques, 21(1), 29-60.
Baucom, I. (2020). History 4 Celsius: Search for a Method in the Age of the Anthropocene. Duke University Press.
Social Science & Our Critical Times 