Rethinking Planned Relocation as Social Protection In an Era of Increasing Climate Change Risks

As climate impacts intensify, planned relocation is increasingly deployed as an adaptation strategy, yet outcomes for relocated communities remain consistently adverse. This paper argues that these failures stem from the treatment of planned relocation as a short-term, projectised disaster response rather than as a long-term developmental intervention. Drawing on social protection theory, this paper reconceptualises planned relocation as a form of social assistance, capable of delivering durable solutions. It demonstrates that planned relocation inherently performs preventive, protective, promotive, and potentially transformative social protection functions by minimising future climate risks, providing non-contributory transfers such as land and housing, and enabling livelihood reconstruction. However, when implemented outside formal social protection systems, these functions may collapse, often resulting in impoverishment and protracted displacement.

Published on March 12, 2026

Tomy Ncube and Una Murray | idrp, Climate, Solutions

Mocoa, Putumayo, Colombia. Photo by Franklin Peña Gutierrez from Pexels.

The paper outlines an exploratory framework for qualifying planned relocation within social protection policy and shows how reframing planned relocation as a social housing program can address institutional fragmentation and missed opportunities for climate finance. The authors propose a joint financing model in which international climate funds could support capital investments, while domestic social protection systems focus on service support and rebuilding livelihoods. Reconceptualising planned relocation in this way aligns climate adaptation with social justice objectives and offers a pragmatic pathway for achieving durable solutions for climate-displaced populations.

KEYWORDS: Climate change, planned relocation, social assistance, transformative, displacement, solutions

Tomy Ncube is an international development scholar, and practitioner affiliated with the Geography Department and the Centre for International Development Innovation (CIDI) of the Ryan Institute at the University of Galway, Ireland. His research is at the intersection of climate change, social protection and displacement, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. He centres his work on bottom-up evidence to document what works for whom and why, to inform equitable and context-sensitive development interventions.

Dr. Una Murray is an Associate Professor and Director of the MA in International Development Practice at the University of Galway, Ireland (Geography Department) and manages research projects linking climate-related mobility evidence to innovative social protection measures. She is actively engaged with international policy actors, and her wider research spans the climate–security–migration nexus, social protection, gender, agriculture and related themes, building on decades of evaluation work within the UN system.

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