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Climate change and disasters (Forced Migration Review 49)

In light of the projected increase in the frequency and intensity of disasters associated with climate change, the number of people displaced in the context of disasters will inevitably rise. Existing national, regional and international legal regimes, however, currently respond to only some of the protection concerns arising from such displacement. Crafting an appropriate response will demand a cross-sectoral approach that addresses different forms of human mobility and which also recognises the local knowledge, values and beliefs of affected communities. FMR 49 includes 36 articles on 'Disasters and displacement in a changing climate', five articles on 'Female genital mutilation (FGM) and asylum in Europe', and five 'general' articles.

- See more at: http://www.fmreview.org/climatechange-disasters

# Episode Title Description People Date
49 Creative Commons FMR 49 - From the Editors An introductory note on FMR 49, 'Disasters and displacement in a changing climate', from the Editors. Marion Couldrey, Maurice Herson 18 Jun 2015
48 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Foreward In order to make progress on disasters, climate change and human mobility, it is essential to bring together different strands of the discussion to develop a comprehensive response that also anticipates future challenges associated with climate change. Børge Brende, Didier Burkhalter 18 Jun 2015
47 Creative Commons FMR 49 - The Nansen Initiative: building consensus on displacement in disaster contexts The Nansen Initiative consultative process has identified a toolbox of potential policy options to prevent, prepare for and respond to the challenges of cross-border displacement in disaster contexts, including the effects of climate change. Walter Kälin 18 Jun 2015
46 Creative Commons FMR 49 - National Adaptation Plans and human mobility In order to avoid displacement when possible, displacement and human mobility issues need to be better integrated within national and regional adaptation planning processes. Koko Warner, Walter Kälin, Susan Martin, Youssef Nassef 18 Jun 2015
45 Creative Commons FMR 49 - The state of the evidence Researchers have much to do, not only to understand climate- and disaster-induced migration but also to transmit their understanding for the use of policymakers and practitioners. Justin Ginnetti 18 Jun 2015
44 Creative Commons FMR 49 - The necessity for an ethnographic approach in Peru A movement of people is rarely explained by environmental or climatic factors alone. Therefore an analysis which does not take into consideration the cultural consequences of climate change for affected societies is incomplete. Geremia Cometti 18 Jun 2015
43 Creative Commons FMR 49 - An integrated focus The key to successfully addressing the challenges of environmental, climatic and natural disasters is integrating migration concerns – including displacement – into all climate change, disaster risk reduction and development policies and frameworks. William Lacy Swing 18 Jun 2015
42 Creative Commons FMR 49 - West Africa: a testing ground for regional solutions West Africa has a very mobile population and high vulnerability to natural hazards. It also, however, has a number of regional cooperation agreements and may therefore be a useful testing ground for addressing cross-border disaster displacement. Julia Blocher, Dalila Gharbaoui, Sara Vigil 18 Jun 2015
41 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Development and displacement risks The impact of climate change induces systemic patterns of socio-economic erosion that also affect the dynamics of disaster displacement and that require parallel responses. Glaucia Boyer, Matthew McKinnon 18 Jun 2015
40 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Developing temporary protection in Africa Formalised temporary protection arrangements in Africa could significantly improve access to territory and human rights for people displaced across borders by disasters. Such arrangements must adhere to states’ existing protection obligations. Tamara Wood 18 Jun 2015
39 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Climate effects on nomadic pastoralist societies Oman and Mongolia reflect the modern climatic and social challenges to mobile pastoral livelihoods. Dawn Chatty, Troy Sternberg 18 Jun 2015
38 FMR 49 - Guidance for ‘managed’ relocation The international community has been slow to develop climate change-specific instruments to guide the relocation process beyond those that relate to displacement generally. Brent Doberstein, Anne Tadgell 18 Jun 2015
37 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Preparing for planned relocation Preparing for planned relocation FMR 18 Jun 2015
36 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Lessons from planned relocation and resettlement in the past Placing contemporary deliberations about relocation within a longer historical and intellectual framework reveals unexpected connections and salutary lessons. Jane McAdam 18 Jun 2015
35 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Post-disaster resettlement in urban Bolivia Post-disaster resettlement programmes can be unsuitable and ineffective, often exacerbating the vulnerability of people to the effects of climate change. Gemma Sou 18 Jun 2015
34 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Focusing on climate-related internal displacement Global attention should place a primary focus on the application of best practice and the development of innovative initiatives to solve climate-related internal displacement, rather than on grappling with the far rarer movements of people across borders. Scott Leckie, Ezekiel Simperingham 18 Jun 2015
33 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Brazil’s draft law for environmental migrants Brazil is developing a long-term solution for filling a legislative gap affecting environmental migrants. Isabela Piacentini de Andrade 18 Jun 2015
32 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Disasters, displacement and a new framework in the Americas There is a startling range of positive examples of national law, policy and practice all across the Americas that states have used to respond to the migratory consequences of disasters. David James Cantor 18 Jun 2015
31 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Temporary protection arrangements to fill a gap in the protection regime Predictable measures are needed to provide protection for people displaced across borders by disasters, where there is currently a gap. Volker Türk 18 Jun 2015
30 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Refugees, climate change and international law How can the category of ‘climate refugee’ be considered within international law in the 21st century? María José Fernández 18 Jun 2015
29 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Displacement as a consequence of climate change mitigation policies Climate change mitigation policies and ‘green solutions’, such as biofuels, are also creating displacement. Sara Vigil 18 Jun 2015
28 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Statelessness and environmental displacement Stateless people and migrants are at greater risk of displacement and are less likely to receive assistance; in turn, environmental displacement (especially multiple migrations) heightens the risk of becoming stateless. Jessie Connell 18 Jun 2015
27 Creative Commons FMR 49 - A role for strategic litigation Strategic litigation to protect individuals at risk can usefully support higher-level protection initiatives. Matthew Scott 18 Jun 2015
26 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Floods and migration in the Czech Republic Residents’ strategies are generally aimed at either protection from or adaptation to flooding. Large-scale migration from the floodplains of rivers has not been seriously considered, even in high-risk zones. Robert Stojanov, Ilan Kelman, Barbora Duží 18 Jun 2015
25 Creative Commons FMR 49 - 'One Safe Future’ in the Philippines The Philippine government’s ‘One Safe Future’ programme relocated disaster-affected poor families in areas where structures enabling opportunities are lacking. Lloyd Ranque, Melissa Quetulio-Navarra 18 Jun 2015
24 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Post-disaster resettlement in the Philippines: a risky strategy Experience in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan suggests that resettlement as a strategy for mitigating disaster-induced displacement can create significant protection risks. Alice R Thomas 18 Jun 2015
23 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Cross-border migration with dignity in Kiribati The ‘migration with dignity’ policy is part of Kiribati’s long-term nation-wide relocation strategy. Karen E McNamara 18 Jun 2015
22 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Land, disasters and mobility in the South Pacific The adaptive characteristics of customary land systems deserve greater recognition in disaster or climate change policy frameworks. Daniel Fitzpatrick 18 Jun 2015
21 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Not drowning but fighting: Pacific Islands activists Focusing on climate-induced migration, rather than mitigation, can be at odds with grassroots demands and can make the future uninhabitability of some Pacific Islands appear as a foregone conclusion. Hannah Fair 18 Jun 2015
20 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Samoa: local knowledge, climate change and population movements The voices of scientists, academics, politicians and development practitioners dominate the climate change debate, yet local knowledge, values and beliefs are essential elements of navigating the way forward for affected communities. Ximena Flores-Palacios 18 Jun 2015
19 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Facilitating voluntary adaptive migration in the Pacific Voluntary adaptive migration across int'l borders will be a critical component of an overall adaptation strategy for at-risk individuals and households in the Pacific in order to increase their resilience to natural hazards and prevent future displicement Bruce Burson, Richard Bedford 18 Jun 2015
18 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Integrating resilience in South Asia Communities can strengthen their resilience by integrating disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and poverty reduction measures. Mi Zhou, Dorien Braam 18 Jun 2015
17 Creative Commons FMR 49 - “Everyone likes it here” Sea-level rise threatens communities of the Lakshadweep islands. But what happens when belongingness, religious beliefs and the identity of being an islander make them stay? Himani Upadhyay, Ilan Kelman, Divya Mohan 18 Jun 2015
16 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Building adaptive capacity in Assam A starting point for adapting to longer-term climate change could be adaptation to short-term climate variability and extreme events. Making more informed choices about the use of remittances can enhance the adaptive capacity of receiving households. Soumyadeep Banerjee, Suman Bisht, Bidhubhusan Mahapatra 18 Jun 2015
15 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Mixed motivations and complex causality in the Mekong Many climate change-affected communities have already been using migration as a means to adapt to and withstand the challenges to their livelihoods and security. Strengthening of existing protections for all migrants is clearly advantageous. Jessica Marsh 18 Jun 2015
14 Creative Commons FMR 49 - One good reason to speak of ‘climate refugees’ The concept of ‘environmental refugees’, or ‘climate refugees’, has been progressively abandoned, as having no legal basis. I want to argue that there are good reasons to use the term. Francois Gemenne 18 Jun 2015
13 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Governance questions for the international community The Nansen Initiative has highlighted significant questions about how the international community should collectively think about displacement and mobility issues relating to natural disasters and climate change, and how to improve the governance thereof. Alexander Betts 18 Jun 2015
12 Creative Commons FMR 49 - Building respectful solutions Tribes in coastal Alaska and Louisiana in the United States are among the communities at immediate risk of displacement due to climate change impacts. Colleen Swan, Chief Albert P Naquin, Stanley Tom 18 Jun 2015
11 Creative Commons FMR 49 General - The Cartagena process: 30 years of innovation and solidarity The 30th anniversary of the 1984 Cartagena Declaration offers the opportunity to consider the achievements of the Cartagena process and the specific characteristics that make it so remarkable. Carlos Maldonado Castillo 18 Jun 2015
10 Creative Commons FMR 49 General - Trafficking for human organs Trafficking of people for their organs is an emerging transnational crime that has failed to receive sufficient international attention. Vladimir Makei 18 Jun 2015
9 Creative Commons FMR 49 General - Sweet tea and cigarettes: a taste of refugee life in Jordan Among refugees in Jordan, utter boredom – the result of restrictions on mobility, prohibitions on employment, and feelings of marginalisation – is an unmistakable source of anguish. Rana B Khoury 18 Jun 2015
8 Creative Commons FMR 49 General - Refugee-state distrust on the Thai-Burma border Distrust between refugees and their state of origin must be given due consideration in institutional approaches to repatriation of refugees, on the Thai-Burma border and in other refugee contexts worldwide. Karen Hargrave 18 Jun 2015
7 Creative Commons FMR 49 General - Animals and forced migration Harm to animals resulting from forced migration of people is intricately interwoven with and contingent upon the simultaneous suffering of humans. Piers Beirne, Caitlin Kelty-Huber 18 Jun 2015
6 Creative Commons FMR 49, FGM - Editors’ Introduction An introductory note from the Editors of a special mini-feature on 'FGM and Asylum in Europe' in FMR 49. Marion Couldrey, Maurice Herson 04 Jun 2015
5 Creative Commons FMR 49, FGM - Female genital mutilation: a case for asylum in Europe With some 71% of female EU asylum applicants from FGM-practising countries estimated to be survivors of this harmful traditional practice, it is time to accept that this subject demands greater scrutiny and a more dedicated response. Fadela Novak-Irons 04 Jun 2015
4 Creative Commons FMR 49, FGM - FGM: challenges for asylum applicants and officials Asylum authorities in the European Union need to establish better procedures to help address the specific vulnerabilities and protection needs of women and girls who have undergone or are at risk of female genital mutilation. Christine Flamand 04 Jun 2015
3 Creative Commons FMR 49, FGM - The medicalisation of female genital mutilation The ‘medicalisation’ of female genital mutilation should be denounced on two counts.Firstly, it is usually anatomically more damaging and, secondly, it goes against the ethical basis of the medical profession. Pierre Foldes, Frédérique Martz 04 Jun 2015
2 Creative Commons FMR 49, FGM - The Istanbul Convention: new treaty, new tool The new Istanbul Convention provides a powerful tool for more effectively guaranteeing the protection of asylum seekers at risk of gender-based persecution and at risk of FGM in particular. Elise Petitpas, Johanna Nelles 04 Jun 2015
1 Creative Commons FMR 49, FGM - Changing attitudes in Finland towards FGM Former refugee women are now working as professional educators among immigrant and refugee communities in Finland to tackle ignorance of the impact and extent of female genital mutilation/cutting. Saido Mohamed, Solomie Teshome 04 Jun 2015