Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
1331st Ordinary General Meeting and Open Lecture of the Royal Society of NSW — 7 May 2025
"Rethinking Mobility in a Changing Climate"
Scientia Professor Jane McAdam AO FASSA FAAL
Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law
Faculty of Law & Justice
UNSW Sydney
The presentation commences at 02:04
Timing Marks:
00:00:00 Introduction: Emeritus Professor Christina Slade FRSN, President, Royal Society of NSW
00:02:04 Presentation: Scientia Professor Jane McAdam
00:45:55 Audience Q&A: moderated by Emeritus Professor Christina Slade
01:14:21 Vote of Thanks: Emeritus Professor Christina Slade
01:16:04 Meeting Close
Summary: Every second, someone is displaced by a disaster. Each year, many more people are displaced internally by disasters than by conflict – the vast majority in the Asia-Pacific region. Climate change will amplify the problem as worsening cyclones, floods, bushfires, droughts and food insecurity force millions from their homes, potentially rendering some areas permanently unsafe. Most people will move within their own countries, including through evacuations, but some may be displaced across borders. Some may not be able to move at all; yet others may be displaced multiple times. When it comes to legal and policy responses to climate mobility, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. While the challenges of addressing climate change and disasters are immense, much can be done to alleviate displacement and its human costs – if we act now. This address will examine how law and policy is responding to the challenge of climate mobility at a time when every region of the world is being impacted by more frequent and intense disasters. What do affected communities want? How could greater preparedness lead to greater protection? How can migration itself be a form of adaptation to climate change?
Professor Jane McAdam AO is Scientia Professor of Law, Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and the Founding Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney, where she leads the Evacuations Research Hub. She is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of Law, and an Honorary Associate of Oxford’s Refugee Studies Centre. Professor McAdam publishes widely on international refugee law and forced migration, with a particular focus on evacuations and mobility in the context of climate change and disasters. Her legal analysis has been adopted by courts, governments and UN bodies, and her work has been highly influential in the development of international, regional and national policy frameworks. Professor McAdam serves on multiple international committees and was joint Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Refugee Law (2014–24). In 2021, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) ‘for distinguished service to international refugee law, particularly to climate change and the displacement of people’. She won the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Law Award in 2022 and was the inaugural winner of the Royal Society of NSW Award for the Humanities, Philosophy, and the Law in 2024.
1331st Ordinary General Meeting and Open Lecture of the Royal Society of NSW — 7 May 2025
"Rethinking Mobility in a Changing Climate"
Scientia Professor Jane McAdam AO FASSA FAAL
Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law
Faculty of Law & Justice
UNSW Sydney
The presentation commences at 02:04
Timing Marks:
00:00:00 Introduction: Emeritus Professor Christina Slade FRSN, President, Royal Society of NSW
00:02:04 Presentation: Scientia Professor Jane McAdam
00:45:55 Audience Q&A: moderated by Emeritus Professor Christina Slade
01:14:21 Vote of Thanks: Emeritus Professor Christina Slade
01:16:04 Meeting Close
Summary: Every second, someone is displaced by a disaster. Each year, many more people are displaced internally by disasters than by conflict – the vast majority in the Asia-Pacific region. Climate change will amplify the problem as worsening cyclones, floods, bushfires, droughts and food insecurity force millions from their homes, potentially rendering some areas permanently unsafe. Most people will move within their own countries, including through evacuations, but some may be displaced across borders. Some may not be able to move at all; yet others may be displaced multiple times. When it comes to legal and policy responses to climate mobility, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. While the challenges of addressing climate change and disasters are immense, much can be done to alleviate displacement and its human costs – if we act now. This address will examine how law and policy is responding to the challenge of climate mobility at a time when every region of the world is being impacted by more frequent and intense disasters. What do affected communities want? How could greater preparedness lead to greater protection? How can migration itself be a form of adaptation to climate change?
Professor Jane McAdam AO is Scientia Professor of Law, Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and the Founding Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney, where she leads the Evacuations Research Hub. She is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of Law, and an Honorary Associate of Oxford’s Refugee Studies Centre. Professor McAdam publishes widely on international refugee law and forced migration, with a particular focus on evacuations and mobility in the context of climate change and disasters. Her legal analysis has been adopted by courts, governments and UN bodies, and her work has been highly influential in the development of international, regional and national policy frameworks. Professor McAdam serves on multiple international committees and was joint Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Refugee Law (2014–24). In 2021, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) ‘for distinguished service to international refugee law, particularly to climate change and the displacement of people’. She won the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Law Award in 2022 and was the inaugural winner of the Royal Society of NSW Award for the Humanities, Philosophy, and the Law in 2024.
