LOSS AND DAMAGE AND DISPLACEMENT: KEY MESSAGES FOR THE ROAD TO COP 28 (Arabic, French, Italian and Spanish Editions)

This advocacy brief, originally co-published on September 15, 2023 by the Loss and Damage Coalition and Researching Internal Displacement, is now available in Arabic, French, Italian and Spanish translations, which may be downloaded via the links below. The English edition has been accepted as a formal submission to the UNFCCC Loss and Damage Transitional Committee.
Published on October 16, 2023
Loss and Damage and Challenges of Human Mobility and Displacement Working Group | idrp, IDPs, Disaster, Climate, United Nations
Pakistan. Drowning in despair. 2022 © Jamil Akhtar CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0

Pakistan. Drowning in despair. 2022 © Jamil Akhtar CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0

The messages, developed by a broad coalition of practitioners, researchers, lawyers and activists working on human mobility at local, national and global levels, are directly relevant to ongoing Loss and Damage negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The English edition has been accepted as a formal submission to the UNFCCC Loss and Damage Transitional Committee.

Displacement is one of the most detrimental outcomes of loss and damage, adversely impacting well-being and the enjoyment of fundamental human rights and potentially reversing development gains for communities and entire nations. Climate-related displacement undermines human rights, well-being and development, resulting in a broad range of adverse impacts on individuals, communities, societies and States, raising important questions and concerns regarding climate justice. Any comprehensive approach to addressing climate-related loss and damage must endeavour to avert, minimise and provide equitable and just solutions to the adverse impacts of displacement.

KEYWORDS: loss and damage; climate change; COP 28; displacement; climate justice

DOWNLOAD ARABIC EDITION

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DOWNLOAD ITALIAN EDITION

DOWNLOAD SPANISH EDITION

DOWNLOAD ENGLISH EDITION

This advocacy brief is co-published by the Loss and Damage Collaboration and Researching Internal Displacement. It can be found also on the Loss and Damage Collaboration webpage.

 

The Loss and Damage and the Challenges of Human Mobility and Displacement working group is a coalition of practitioners, researchers, lawyers and activists working on human mobility at local, national and global levels. Representing a broad cross-section of voices, perspectives and interests, participants in the working group share the common conviction that climate change-related displacement must be central to efforts to assess and address loss and damage impacts, including cascading and intergenerational impacts on individuals, communities, societies and ecosystems.

Image Credits

1. Cover image: Drowning in Despair, by Jamil Akhtar via the World Meteorological Organization (7289), licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Description: Residents of a village in District Sanghar in Sindh Province of Pakistan, gather to collect some emergency ration supplies after the devastating flood of 2022. This year has also had its share of floods, albeit slightly less than the previous year. Experts warn that this will probably become an annual occurrence. Pakistan has one of the smallest carbon footprints in the world while suffering from the worst effects of climate change and almost no disaster preparedness.

2. Loss and Damage Collaboration logo: Sundarbans web, by the European Space Agency, Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2016), processed by ESA, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE

Researching Internal Displacement publishes engaging and insightful short pieces of writing, artistic and research outputs, policy briefings and think pieces on internal displacement.

We welcome contributions from academics, practitioners, researchers, officials, artists, poets, writers, musicians, dancers, postgraduate students and people affected by internal displacement.

By Jane McAdam, Regina Jefferies, Thomas Mulder | Nov 4, 2025
For many of those displaced by Hurricane Melissa, the real disaster is only just beginning. While close to a million people have been evacuated, undoubtedly saving lives, this will likely be the start of a much longer period of displacement for some individuals and communities. Viewed within the broader existing hazard-scape of violence, conflict, resource scarcity and funding challenges in the region, the dangers compound and grow. This short piece, which discusses the long-term risks to people displaced by Melissa, also spotlights the chronic and worsening underinvestment in people and communities required to reduce the risk of disaster displacement and the devastating long-term effects on those affected. The blog underscores why parties negotiating the text of the forthcoming global treaty on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters must ensure that displacement, evacuation and planned relocations are reflected in the provisions and that commitments to international cooperation are backed by the financial resources necessary to make them real.
By Elizabeth Ferris, Erica Bower, Sanjula Weerasinghe | Oct 30, 2025
This article looks back at the development and continued relevance of the 2015 Guidance on Protecting People from Disasters and Environmental Change through Planned Relocations, which established an essential set of principles intended to clarify and uphold the rights of people undertaking or considering planned relocations. The article traces how the Guidelines and subsequent Toolkit have helped broaden the conversation to include not only the rights of relocating persons but also those of host communities, those who remain behind in sites of origin, and all those whose lives are affected by planned relocation. It further discusses how the core principles have remained relevant, even as the Guidelines have been adopted across diverse regional, national and community-level contexts. Finally, the author team, which includes the expert who led the development of the Guidance and Toolkit, suggests a brief research agenda, including areas where further direction is needed regarding issues that have become more salient since the 2015 Guidance was published.
By Emily Channell-Justice | Oct 16, 2025
The 2022 Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine not only shocked the world and made millions of Ukrainians either refugees or internally displaced persons. It also overshadowed the invasion of Eastern Ukraine in 2014, which resulted in an intense armed conflict, forcing people living in Donbas to flee further from the frontlines. Based on numerous interviews with IDPs, the author explores the 2014 internal displacement from Eastern Ukraine and the challenges faced by IDPs, including integration and reconciliation. Highlighting one of the interviews in particular, this brief article provides the firsthand experience of a displaced person who was forced to leave her hometown, Donetsk, which, before 2014, was the second-wealthiest city in Ukraine, had an international airport that welcomed millions of passengers annually, and hosted concerts of world-renowned musicians and the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship. Her story not only sheds light on how challenging these problems were before the full-scale invasion but also reminds us of what is at stake—the lives of millions of Ukrainians who may never be able to return home.