LOSS AND DAMAGE AND DISPLACEMENT: KEY MESSAGES FOR THE ROAD TO COP 28 [ARABIC EDITION]

We are pleased to have published the Arabic edition of this advocacy brief. Follow the “Read this article” link below to be taken to the page where you may download the Arabic PDF.
Published on October 16, 2023
Loss and Damage and Challenges of Human Mobility and Displacement Working Group | idrp, IDPs, Disaster, Climate, United Nations

These 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).

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 ADVOCACY BRIEF

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 Jennefer Lyn L. Bagaporo and Chona R. Echavez | May 12, 2026
Geopolitical scenarios and possible aid shifts can cut national budgets in countries with internally displaced persons, weakening services they rely on and increasing household stress—leaving children especially vulnerable and undermining stability and development. The Philippines receives official development aid grants mainly for health and social protection from the United Nations and the United States. Shifting global priorities are likely to reduce future funding for these sectors. To systematically trace the effects of aid reduction on IDP children, this paper - the 13th volume in our series on ‘Internal Displacement in a Changing World Order’ - presents time as an analytical factor. Through a longitudinal cohort study, time-based analysis also presents opportunities to identify sectors that require focus to sustain support for IDP children and policies that necessitate robust, consistent implementation.
By Roger Guiu and Nadia Siddiqui | May 7, 2026
By examining the behavior and living conditions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) across humanitarian, development, and peace indicators, it is possible to know what matters most to displaced populations seeking to return or remain in a location. Quantitative modeling across Iraq, Syria, and Sudan reveal consistent commonalities in IDP decision-making in this regard. However, these critical elements are often not prioritized initially in international and national crisis responses – if they are dealt with at all. This 12th volume in our series on ‘Internal Displacement in a Changing World Order’ details these findings and their implications, arguing for genuinely centering displaced and conflict-affected populations’ own priorities, wellbeing, and rights as the basis for the resolution of displacement in a changing global order. What is needed is a more robust, simultaneous, and consolidated transversal approach, not a shrunk down status quo.
By Zaldy C. Collado | May 5, 2026
This 11th volume in our series on ‘Internal Displacement in a Changing World Order’ argues that the global rise of conflict-induced internal displacement and the Doomsday Clock both reflect the same underlying conditions of global fragility and instability. The Doomsday Clock symbolically represents how close our species is to existential demise, due to myriad of reasons including nuclear escalation, geopolitical tensions, climate change, biological and technological hazards, and widespread conflict. By contrast, incidents of internal displacement provide an empirical account of how these threats are felt in human terms. In this respect, the significant increase in incidents of conflict-induced internal displacement worldwide manifests the broader risks captured by the Doomsday Clock. This is not a causal relationship. Rather, it suggests that the growth of internal displacement is not merely as a consequence of conflicts, but also an indicator of deeper structural failures in global governance and peacebuilding.