Climate change, displacement and community relocation: Lessons from Alaska

This report presents the preliminary findings of research involving 15 Alaska Native communities which are designing a community-led relocation process in response to the impacts of climate change. It presents a brief overview of climate change in Alaska, examines its impact on rural Alaska Native villages and analyses the challenges for state, federal and tribal governments in implementing planned relocation as a long-term disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategy. It describes the steps the communities are taking to design and effect their relocation and outlines policy recommendations.

The work with communities in Alaska will also provide vital input for global policies and other regional and national processes that aim to prevent, reduce or at least mitigate displacement associated with disasters and the adverse effects of climate change. These include the Platform on Disaster Displacement, which was established to implement the Nansen Initiative’s protection agenda on cross-border disaster displacement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Paris Agreement on climate change.