Seizing the momentum: displacement on the global climate change agenda
This briefing paper summarises where the issues of displacement, migration and planned relocation stand within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreements, decisions and discourse. Seizing the Momentum highlights opportunities and challenges inherent in turning knowledge and commitments into concrete action for people already displaced and those at greatest risk of becoming displaced.
Key messages include the following conclusions:
- The need to ratchet up efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change is made ever more urgent by the millions of people being displaced from their homes each year by climate-related disasters;
- The political momentum of the Paris Agreement provides a golden opportunity to mobilise investment in the resilience of countries and communities facing displacement risk;
- Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction and the UN’s Agenda for Humanity may serve to complement, reinforce and accelerate climate action for people already displaced and those at increasing risk of becoming so;
- Commitments to avert, minimise and address displacement must now translate into increased capacity and;
- Financial and technical support where it is most needed, including in small island developing states (SIDSs) and the least developed countries (LDCs).