Climate Change and Community Relocation [Video]

As more and more people acknowledge the reality of human-induced climate change, entire communities worldwide are already paying a personal price: the need to relocate in order to survive the escalating frequency of extreme weather events and slow-onset changes such as rising sea levels and desertification.

While people have moved in response to environmental changes throughout human history, the intensity and rapidity of global warming has led to projections that hundreds of millions of people will move in the coming decades. According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), mobility compelled by climate change can take three different forms: migration, displacement, and planned relocations.

Following a brief overview of climate mobility, this brief focuses on planned relocations — the least studied of the three forms of mobility, but one which is likely to become more common in the future.

Most Migration Is Internal

In spite of headlines about climate refugees or “climate migrants”arriving at the borders of developed countries, most climate-induced migration will take place within the borders …