Climate Change, Conflict, and Displacement: Implications for Protection Agencies
Publisher: Overseas Development Institute
Author(s): Katie Peters, Amanda Gray-Meral, Sarah Opitz-Stapleton, and Hannah Measures
Date: 2021
Topics: Climate Change, Conflict Prevention, Disasters, Governance, Humanitarian Assistance
The complex interactions of climate change, conflict and displacement are increasing the challenge of ensuring protection outcomes for at-risk individuals by specialist protection agencies. Systems thinking has often been adopted by humanitarian and specialist protection agencies – both to map the relationships between drivers and triggers of displacement, and to better understand the capacities of those at risk to manage and adapt to their changing conditions that can result in displacement. Yet, so far, siloed approaches to dealing with the climate crisis, displacement and conflict remain dominant, and in juxtaposition with the increasing recognition that complex interactions between displacement drivers and triggers span issues related to conflict and climate. Despite increasing recognition of these complex interactions, humanitarian and protection agencies are only just getting to grips with the implications for the way they understand and act on displacement issues. As such we cannot yet say with confidence that current approaches are helping to ‘identify and mobilise the right actors and approaches’ to respond, before, during and post-displacement (IDMC and NRC, 2015), where climate and conflict are a factor. As we argue throughout this paper (and the accompanying full report, Peters et al., 2021), rather than becoming a compartmentalised specialism within the field of displacement, considering climate change presents an opportunity for a deeper understanding of the complex interactions between displacement drivers and triggers – and must be understood as such.