Evaluating Hong Kong’s Legal and Policy Frameworks to Address Climate and Disaster-Related Displacement in the Pearl River Delta

This paper reviews Hong Kong's legal and policy landscape to assess the Government's capacity to respond to climate and disaster-related displacement within the Pearl River Delta Region.

Published on December 7, 2021

Roshan Melwani | all, IDPs, Internal migration, Disaster, Climate, Law/Policy

Tai O. A community in Hong Kong particularly vulnerable to disaster risk and displacement © Roshan Melwani

As a low-lying coastal region, the Pearl River Delta is home to millions vulnerable to displacement from disasters and climate change. Despite these well-documented risks, how Hong Kong should respond to future displacement challenges has remained largely unexplored. This paper evaluates Hong Kong’s readiness to address regional displacement in the context of disasters and climate change. The analysis highlights several factors that may affect this readiness. Firstly, important elements of a displacement-centric framework were found to be wholly absent in Hong Kong. Secondly, the fragmentation of Hong Kong’s existing legal and policy frameworks exacerbates the difficulty of mainstreaming displacement considerations. The policy oversights mean that at-risk communities within the Pearl River Delta region face heightened vulnerability to displacement. By comparing Hong Kong’s approach against international instruments and regional frameworks, the paper concludes with recommendations that work towards helping Hong Kong develop a holistic strategy to address climate and disaster-related displacement risks.

Roshan Melwani is studying for a Masters of Public Policy at the University of Oxford. Prior to joining the Blavatnik School of Government, Roshan dedicated the first several years of his career working in Hong Kong’s public interest and human rights law sector. He is interested in the complexities of climate-induced displacement and addressing the human rights violations that arise from climate migration.

This paper was written by the author during his Summer Fellowship on Internal Displacement at the Internal Displacement Research Programme at the Refugee Law Initiative. The Fellowship was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, on behalf of the UKRI Global Challenge Research Fund, as part of the funded project “Interdisciplinary Network on Internal Displacement, Conflict and Protection” (AH/T005351/1).

Download RID Working Paper No. 10

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