Climate Change and Migration: An Omnibus Overview for Policymakers and Development Practitioners

SW1P 3SE The views expressed in CGD Policy Papers are those of the www.cgdev.org authors and should not be attributed to the board of directors, funders of the Center for Global Development, or the authors’ Center for Global Development. [...] In the meantime, governments and other actors should: • Ensure that where possible refugees and IDPs are not located in areas exposed to climate hazards; • Provide displaced populations with rights, including to work and to move; • Ensure that displaced populations have access to healthcare and adequate provision of water, sanitation and hygiene needs, which can become more challenging in flood-af. [...] Where options exist for mobilising remittances in ways that are attractive to migrants, their communities of origin, and governments, they should be pursued: • The cost of sending remittances should be reduced, allowing migrants to send more in response to or in preparation for shocks; • Early-warning systems should be publicised to households in hazard-exposed areas, allowing them to request fund. [...] Money remitted back to the community of origin can be used for adaptation, such as income diversification; the payment of healthcare costs; the purchase of food; and the reconstruction or reinforcement of dwellings. [...] The negative impacts of debt in migration can be reduced by reducing the costs of mobility to migrants; increasing migrants’ financial literacy; creating more responsible, lower-cost lending programmes for adaptation and migration, potentially through state actors; and providing access to insurance or pre-disaster funding, to limit exposure to debt traps and subsequent distress migration.