A new report released by Displacement Solutions (DS) examines the real world challenges of securing and repurposing land to resettle people displaced by climate change.
The report, Finding Land Solutions for Climate Displacement: A Challenge Like Few Others, takes an in-depth look at DS’ efforts to secure new homes for lost homes and new lands for lost land for people already on the move due to the consequences of global sea-level rise, melting arctic ice and severe weather events, in several climate-affected countries.
DS was the first international organisation to work specifically on the issue of sourcing and repurposing land for settlement and has worked since 2007 in Bangladesh, Fiji, Kiribati, Maldives, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu and elsewhere to seek concrete land-based solutions to climate displacement.
The 112-page report proposes a number of practical recommendations for governments and advocacy NGOs that will assist in resolving climate displacement, including land acquisition, planned relocation measures and creative methods of compensation.
DS Director and author of the report, Scott Leckie, estimates, using current data, that climate displacement is likely to affect more than 200 million people worldwide within the next 20 years.
“We’ve worked out during the completion of the report, that somewhere between one-3000th to one-700th of the planet’s total land surface is needed to give the people who’ve lost their homes due to climactic changes, new land to start their lives over.”
“This report tells the story of Displacement Solutions; of the immense challenge in procuring new land resources for people and communities forced to flee their homes because of climate change, but also shows – convincingly – that the land available to do so is available.”
“To preserve the human rights of those affected, new land is required and now, all that is truly lacking is the political will to find land solutions to climate displacement”.
Digital copies of the report are available here and hardcopies can be purchased from DS for AUD$80.00 by writing to info@displacementsolutions.org.