Event – Supporting Resilience and Facilitating Safe and Regular Migration Pathways in a Changing Climate: Lessons Learned from GCM Implementation

Background

Every year, millions of people are displaced or compelled to move in the context of disasters,  the adverse effects of climate change and environmental degradation. Scientific evidence confirms that climate and weather extremes are intensifying in frequency and severity, increasingly impacting human mobility (migration, displacement, and planned relocation) across all regions. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) estimates that disasters triggered 45.8 million new internal displacements spanning across 163 countries and territories during 2024. This figure includes people who have been forced to leave their homes in the context of hydrological, meteorological, and geophysical events such as earthquakes, wildfires, floods and storms, as well as slow-onset hazards such as drought.

In the context of global warming and heating, the livelihoods of millions more are affected by slow-onset climate change and environmental degradation. Many may end up leaving their homes, often in situations of vulnerability, due to limited resources, information and opportunities, while others remain trapped in at-risk areas.

Without substantial progress on climate change mitigation, adaptation and risk reduction efforts, the scale and complexity of disaster and climate change-related human mobility will continue to grow. And unless such population movements are safe, orderly, regular, they can pose significant challenges to human security and human rights, and greatly undermine sustainable development, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction efforts.

In 2018, States adopted the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). The complex challenges presented by migration and displacement in the context of disasters, climate change and environmental degradation are explicitly recognized in the GCM, particularly in Objective 2 (on drivers) and Objective 5 (on regular migration pathways). In May 2026, nearly 8 years after the adoption of the GCM, governments, stakeholders and the United Nations system will meet for the second International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) to discuss the successes and challenges of implementing this landmark cooperative framework. The Forum represents an important opportunity to reaffirm commitment to address human mobility challenges in the context of disasters, the adverse effects of climate change and environmental degradation in line with international standards and at different levels of implementation (sub-national, national, regional and global).

The side event will consider complementary instruments and international forums, including the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and the Global Refugee Forum (GRF), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement (COP) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Objectives of the side event

The overall objective of this side event is to contribute to the review of progress at the Forum, with a particular focus on implementation across objectives 2 and 5 of the GCM. A diverse range of high-level speakers will consider and assess the implementation of commitments, principles and policy instruments set out in these two objectives.

The side event will also provide an opportunity to present updates and seek further application and use of the CLIMB database, which is an online platform and repository of national, bilateral and regional policy and legal instruments and practices addressing human mobility in the context of the adverse effects of climate change.

Specific objectives of the side event are to:

• highlight progress and gaps in the current implementation of GCM commitments since 2018 related to climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and migration governance;
• showcase effective practices and available policy instruments related to pathways for regular migration in disaster and climate change contexts at the regional and national levels;
• present an updated CLIMB Database and promote its wider application and use;
• provide a space for dialogue and partnerships among States and stakeholders from different regions on practical and policy solutions to address and manage disaster and climate change-related human mobility.

Organizers

The Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD); Beyond Climate Collaborative (BCC), Climate Migration and Displacement Platform (CMDP), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC); International Organization for Migration (IOM); Refugees International (RI); United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).  

Related Side Events

You can also find a list of planned IMRF side events focused on human mobility in the context of disasters, climate change, and environmental degradation. We aim to keep this list as comprehensive as possible and will continue to update it as new information becomes available. If you have a relevant event to add or updated information to share, please contact us at info@disasterdisplacement.org.

Header photo: UK Department for International Development/Russell Watkins