Climate-induced displacement, migration and relocation

Climate change is increasingly affecting where and how people can live safely and with dignity. Droughts, floods, sea-level rise and other climate impacts can force people to move, while migration can also be an important adaptation strategy. Yet people affected by climate change often lack adequate legal protection, resources and meaningful choices. From the perspective of Bread for the World, the key question is how human mobility can be addressed in a way that protects human rights, preserves dignity and avoids creating new forms of vulnerability.

How can governments ensure that people displaced by climate impacts have access to protection, housing, livelihoods, social services and legal remedies?

• How can migration be supported as a safe and voluntary adaptation strategy, rather than becoming a last resort for people who have lost their livelihoods?

• Under what conditions can planned relocation be considered a rights-based adaptation measure – and how can it ensure free, prior and meaningful participation of affected communities, respect for land and cultural rights, and compensation for economic and non-economic losses?

• What happens when adaptation is no longer sufficient and communities face permanent loss of their homes, land, livelihoods and cultural identity?

• How can international climate finance, including finance for loss and damage, adequately address the costs and human rights implications of displacement and planned relocation?