Climate change, natural disasters, and human displacement: a UNHCR perspective

GDPC

February 5, 2015

This report contains UNHCR’s preliminary perpsectives on the complex and evolving nexus between climate change displacement and cross-border movements within the current international framework. It addresses a range of displacement scenarios and challenges, including the case of ‘sinking’ small island states and refugee movements provoked by armed conflict rooted in environmental factors. In addition, this report contributes to the debate regarding legal terminology in the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and provides key points regarding UNHCR’s overarching policy and objectives in combatting the root causes and effects of climate change.