Human Migration and Displacement in the Context of Adaptation to Climate Change: The Cancun Adaptation Framework and Potential for Future Action

The first-time-ever agreed-upon text on migration, displacement, and planned relocation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) climate negotiations process was informed by recent empirical research, and will shape how human mobility is dealt with under adaptation. Migration, displacement, and planned relocation feature in the text of the Cancun Adaptation Framework as technical cooperation issues which highlight activities that help to guide adaptation funding. Human mobility in the UNFCCC context is distinct from other policy fora—like international protocols and expanding mandates of existing frameworks such as the 1951 Geneva Convention. Operationally oriented solutions and discussions are moving forward in a UNFCCC process through the Cancun Adaptation Framework [paragraph 14(f)], the Climate Finance and the Adaptation Committee, and the Subsidiary Body on Implementation's Work Program on Loss and Damage. These and other policy processes catalyze nationally and regionally driven work on the topics of migration, displacement, and planned relocation in the context of climate change.