Displacement as a development issue: Enabling public policy to unlock climate finance in Asia and the Pacific

This paper looks at the current public policy approaches to displacement across Asia and the Pacific, provides insights into selected country approaches, and explores the role of existing development finance, including the role of climate financial intermediary funds, in reducing the drivers of displacement.

At the outset, it should be recognized that there has been a shift in understanding, from seeing displacement as primarily a humanitarian issue, with very pressing demands, to one within a development frame. By and large, countries across Asia and the Pacific now recognize that addressing the causes of displacement demands a different approach to addressing the outcomes. Moving from intent to action requires a better articulation of needs, clearer setting of priorities, and the explicit inclusion of measures to reduce displacement risk in development planning, particularly at the sector level. A greater emphasis on concrete measures linked to loss and damage, or the avoidance of it, will help underpin the case for investment, principally in prevention.