The world has witnessed the direct impact of climate change more than ever in the last few years. In 2019 alone, 25.9million people were displaced due to climate events, which is almost three times larger than those displaced by violent conflicts. While it is difficult to project the number of people to be displaced by climate change or weather-related disasters, it is clear that climate displacement is soon to be the predominant factor of human mobility, especially for those who have limited resources to adequately respond to such crises.
Despite the evidenced urgency in climate displacement, the laws and conventions to protect the rights of refugees, migrants and IDPs remain heavily focused on the cross-border migrants and conflict-induced refugees. As a result, policies, strategies and measures to ensure the right of climate change displaced persons (CCDPs, hereafter) to access basic services such as education and health care in their new homes have not been given necessary attention. Learning disruption, whether seasonal or longer term, deprives the already vulnerable CCDPs of a means to accelerate their social integration and the recovery of their country in a long run.
The overarching purpose of the study therefore is to establish a solid understanding of the current situations of climate change displacement across the Asia Pacific region and provide research-informed policy recommendations to ensure the rights to education and lifelong learning of the CCDPs. More specifically, the study focuses on five countries in the region, namely Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Tuvalu and Vietnam, which represent distinctive scenarios of climate change displacement in Asia-Pacific.
This study is a joint project with UNESCO.