Climate Migration - Protection Needs

Under international law, certain types of migrants have legal rights, including the right to protection. Others do not, including climate migrants.  

What do we mean by protection?

In this instance we mean social protection: access to housing, healthcare, education, protection under the law. There is also the issue of your right to actually live in the city or country where you migrate to - and if you have the right to work and earn a sustainable income.

Most of these issues stem from your right to residency wherever you end up. Have the legal documents allowing you to live and work will make all the difference. Without them, migrants become even more vulnerable and trapped in an existence where choices are limited and options to make changes are few.

Climate Migration - The Practicalities

Eventually, the effects of climate change will necessitate required migration from low lying islands and atolls in the Pacific. The first choice for migrants will likely be the urban centres in their own countries. The second choice will be a neighbouring country in the region. The third choice will be somewhere outside of the region. It sounds straightforward, but there are practicalities.

It's About Managing Risk: The overlap between CCA and DRR in the Pacific

There are a lot of acronyms out there. Sometimes they can be a bit confusing - in the world of development two particular acronyms abound: CCA and DRR. Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Globally, they overlap in areas and there is not enough cooperation between practitioners in the two fields to make them interventions more efficient and effective. In the Pacific, however, they are practically the same thing. Particularly because climate change is by definition a slow onset disaster.