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LATEST NEWS

Land Grabbing as an Internationally Wrongful Act - NEW DS Report on Ending Land Grabbing in Myanmar

DS Director Scott Leckie to again teach his Climate Change and Displacement Course in 2020 at Monash Law School

Climate Land Bank Idea Gets Major Boost in New ADB Report

The Peninsula Principles Turn 6!

Land Grabbing as an Internationally Wrongful Act - NEW DS Report on Ending Land Grabbing in Myanmar

DS has just published a major 184-page legal report on the land grabbing in Myanmar and how these processes constitute internationally wrongful acts. The report includes a 21-step legal roadmap to end land grabbing once and for in Myanmar, a nation that is one of the worst in the world in  Although the general power of States to compulsorily acquire, expropriate or otherwise confiscate or 'grab' land, homes and properties is legislatively recognised in virtually all national legal systems, to be lawful these processes generally carry with them five fundamental pre-conditions. Namely, when housing, land or property rights are revoked or limited through these processes, this can only be carried out when the taking concerned is:             1) subject to law and due process;             2) subject to the general principles of international law;             3) in the interest of society and not for the benefit of another private party;             4) proportionate, reasonable and subject to a fair balance test between the cost and the aim sought; and             5) subject to the provision of just and satisfactory compensation. In all countries, the act of compulsorily acquiring land is highly regulated and something which rights-respecting governments are often reluctant…...
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DS Director Scott Leckie to again teach his Climate Change and Displacement Course in 2020 at Monash Law School

Climate Change and Displacement (LAW5454) - Will be Offered 2-6 March 2020 at Monash Law School Human rights and access to justice, will be increasingly affected by the consequences of climate change. This will manifest in a multitude of ways, with the issue of climate displacement providing perhaps the most graphic example in this regard. The scale of climate displacement is likely to dwarf current levels of displacement throughout the world caused by conflict, disaster and poorly planned development projects. While estimates of the scale of future climate displacement are notoriously difficult to prove with any precision, it is certain that tens, if not hundreds, of millions of people will be forced by the consequences of climate change to flee their homes and lands, and in some instances, their countries. International and national laws and institutions are arguably not yet capable of ensuring that the rights of climate displaced persons will be fully respected. Offered in March 2020, Climate Change and Displacement (LAW5454)will provide a state of the art, up to date overview of the links between human rights and climate change, the phenomena of climate displacement, an understanding of the dynamics of climate displacement, the countries which are now and in…...
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Climate Land Bank Idea Gets Major Boost in New ADB Report

A new report on Promoting Affordable Housing in Yangon, Myanmar published by the Asian Development Bank has, among other recommendations, urged the government of Myanmar to consider establishing a National Climate Land Bank to proactively address the looming climate displacement crisis in the country. The report notes that "Myanmar’s housing sector is struggling to cope with rapid urbanization, internal migration, and new demand from recent economic growth. These challenges are most apparent in the Yangon Region, where estimates suggest there will be a housing shortage of 1.3 million units by 2030. This publication assesses the current housing market situation in Yangon. It identifies reform options and offers practical recommendations to support the Yangon Region Government’s implementation of its affordable housing agenda and related policies." With a specific recommendation to establish a climate land bank, the report continues "The central importance of land for security, stability, and economic development is already well-recognized by the present government and by all organs of civil society, which have commenced identifying state land resources for eventual distribution to landless rural poor households as part of broader land reform efforts. In this context, the establishment of the MNCLB would be a further element of broader land…...
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The Peninsula Principles Turn 6!

On 18 August 2019, the Peninsula Principles on Climate Displacement Within States will celebrate their sixth anniversary. The ravages of climate change and climate displacement continue to worsen, and in many respects are turning out to be more rapid, more severe and more widespread than initially predicted. We developed the Principles in 2013 to provide a clear framework grounded in pre-existing human rights law to enable governments to develop the policies and laws needed to protect the rights of the millions of people who will have to leave their homes because of climate change. While the world has a great distance to travel in transforming the ideals of the Principles into reality, to date they have taken root in an ever-growing array of institutions and agencies, with countless statements in support of the Principles coming from far and wide over the past six years, including many of the key officials within the UN working to address climate displacement. UN Climate Change Envoy (and former Irish President and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights), Mary Robinson noted that "States facing climate-related displacement within their borders require significant financial support and technical expertise to develop solutions that provide for the rights of those affected. The Peninsula…...
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CLIMATE CHANGE
AND DISPLACEMENT

Bangladesh | Fiji
Solomon Islands 
Colombia | Panama

PUBLICATIONS

View our latest publications 
and resources.

 

PENINSULA
PRINCIPLES

Tackling one of the largest
human rights challenges
of the modern era

  

Care About Climate Change? How You Can Directly Support Climate Displaced Families in Bangladesh

When you buy Raw Products you help build houses for climate displaced people in Bangladesh. Have a look at the new film on DS’s One House, One Family at a time project where we build homes for some of Bangladesh’s most vulnerable climate-affected families.

LOCAL WARMING

The effects of climate change are already upon us no matter where we are. In this short film, Scott Leckie shares his thoughts on the very real consequences of global warming on Australia’s Mornington Peninsula and beyond…

AFTER THE QUAKE

In 2015, Nepal was struck by a major earthquake that resulted in widespread death, destruction and displacement in 31 of Nepal’s 75 districts. Large-scale displacement ensued and with more than 900,000 homes damaged or destroyed. This short film looks at how the needs of Nepal’s people were addressed in the aftermath of this horrible natural disaster.

THE LAND SEEKERS

Our work around the world with climate displaced communities has shown DS time and time again that land lies at the core of rights-based solutions to climate displacement. This short film contains interviews of some of the world’s first ‘landseekers’ who work tirelessly in support of climate displaced communities everywhere. 

ONE HOUSE AT A TIME

Displacement Solutions has been working to solve climate displacement in Bangladesh. We’ve already built one small village, and we’ve  produced this video on the ‘One house, one family at a time project’ as an appeal to help us build another village. 

LIFE ON A VANISHING ATOLL

A new short film produced by Displacement Solutions chronicles the very real changes facing the people of Ontong Java, as they face an uncertain future. 

DO SOMETHING!

This short four-minute DS film about land solutions to climate displacement provides a short overview of why land lies at the core of repairing climate displacement and how much land the world will need to find solutions for the world’s growing climate displaced population. Check it out!

 

ABOUT
DISPLACEMENT SOLUTIONS

Displacement Solutions (DS) works to empower displaced people and refugees to exercise their right to return and have restored to them their original homes, lands and properties. DS works together with and on behalf of people who have been displaced not only by conflict, forced eviction or other human rights abuses, but also natural disaster, climate change or other circumstances beyond their control. DS assists in finding alternative solutions such as compensation or resettlement if this is their wish. Read more…

 

DS in Action >    Get involved with DS > 

WORLD CLIMATE DISPLACEMENT MAP

Climate displacement is happening today. Research carried out by Displacement Solutions since 2008 in all corners of the earth has revealed the worrying scale of contemporary climate displacement that is already affecting millions of people across the globe. DS has developed a world displacement map indicating where climate displacement is occurring, the number of people it is currently affecting, and other sources of information about these growing numbers of areas, all of which require greater attention and support from the international community.

The map below enables viewers to click on various climate displacement hotspots, and provides the user with detailed information about the particular challenges facing the affected communities. If you have further information about climate displacement in your location, please feel free to submit this to Displacement Solutions for possible inclusion in updating versions of the world climate displacement map.

We hope viewers will find this map useful, and we welcome any feedback you would like to provide, which you can submit to info@displacementsolutions.org

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working to repair CLIMATE DISPLACEMENT

As our name suggests, Displacement Solutions works on finding solutions to climate displacement. We are one of very few international organizations that works on this issue through practical programmes in the field, as well as through efforts to improve national and international legal, policy, and institutional frameworks. We are also the only organization that focuses on what we believe is at the very centre of solving climate displacement – land. Much of our effort is directed towards finding alternative land and housing for communities already facing or threatened with losing their homes to the effects of climate change. We work with a wide range of partners, including communities affected by climate displacement, grassroots organisations, governments, UN and other international agencies, NGOs and academic institutions.

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BANGLADESH HLP INITIATIVE

Bangladesh is one of the most environmentally vulnerable countries and is set to be even more so as a result of climate change.
Bangladesh suffers from regular and severe natural hazards, including floods, tropical cyclones and storm surges, droughts and landslides. These hazards are already leading to the loss and destruction of housing, land and property, severe disruption to livelihoods and widespread displacement across the country.The effects of climate change are expected to intensify many of these existing hazards as well as create new drivers of displacement. This will almost inevitably lead to further losses of housing, land, property and livelihoods as well as further forced displacement of individuals and communities. DS and its partners Young Power in Social Action (YPSA) are engaged in a multi-year Bangladesh HLP Initiative designed to secure new land resources for the growing climate displaced population in the country. 

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the ‘Where Will We Go?’ Exhibition

For the past two years, photojournalist Kadir van Lohuizen has circled the globe exploring the consequences of rising sea levels caused by climate change. With support provided by DS, the New York Times and the UN Environment Programme, Kadir travelled to Bangladesh, Fiji, Kiribati, Panama (Guna Yala islands), Papua New Guinea (the Carteret Islands), the United Kingdom and the USA to document some of the areas hardest hit thus far by the effects of climate change.

The brochure is available here for this extraordinary travelling exhibition which is the culmination Kadir’s tireless work across the planet documenting the human face of climate displacement. The multimedia exhibition was made possible through the hard work of Kadir and his team, backed with financial support from DS, UNEP, Eyes on Media, NOOR, and the Netherlands Embassy in Lima. 

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CLIMATE DISPLACEMENT IN PANAMA APPLYING THE PENINSULA PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE

A new DS report – available in English and soon Spanish – applies the 2013 Peninsula Principles on Climate Displacement Within States for the first time to a specific case of climate displacement along the Gunayala coastline of Panama. DS sent a two-person mission comprised of Colombian human rights lawyer Carlos Arenas and renowned Dutch photo-journalist Kadir van Lohuizen to Panama in April to work with the Gunayala indigenous community which is already experiencing large-scale displacement because of climate change.

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