Planned relocations, disasters and climate change: Consolidating good practices and preparing for the future (Background document)

This background paper was prepared to underpin discussions at the Sanremo consultation on planned relocations, disasters and climate change: Consolidating good practices and preparing for the future, which was held from 12-14 March 2014 in Sanremo, Italy. This UNHCR-Brookings-Georgetown consultation provided an opportunity to examine the complex issue of planned relocations made necessary by sudden-onset disasters, acute environmental degradation, and the longer-term effects of climate change.

The consultation contributed to the Nansen Initiative on disaster-induced cross-border displacement, a bottom-up consultative process intended to build consensus on the development of a protection agenda to address the needs of people displaced across international borders in the context of natural disasters, including those linked to the effects of climate change.