HUMAN MOBILITY IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

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Climate change is a driver of human mobility and is expected to increase the displacement of populations. COP20 in Lima is an opportune moment for policy makers to ensure that adaptation measures are taken to prevent and mitigate displacement in the context of climate change, including through migration as an adaptation strategy and planned relocation as an adaptation measure of last resort. The last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report includes, for the first time, a chapter addressing human security, including aspects pertaining to migration and mobility. “Climate change is projected to increase the displacement of people throughout this century. The risk of displacement increases when populations who lack the resources to migrate experience higher exposure to extreme weather events, in both rural and urban areas, particularly in low-income developing countries. Changes in migration patterns can be responses to both extreme weather events and longer-term climate variability and change, and migration can also be an effective adaptation strategy.

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