How the World Is Learning to Respond Collectively to Climate Displacement

The coordinated global response to climate change-driven displacement is relatively new. Just a few decades ago, virtually no governments were paying attention to the ways in which people were being displaced by extreme weather, sea-level rise, and other climate events. Although the international response remains a work in progress, significant strides have been made to bring the world together. One of the people responsible for that coordination is Walter Kälin, a longtime humanitarian expert and legal scholar who is now the Envoy of the Chair of the Platform on Disaster Displacement, a country-led initiative that works to protect people at risk of climate-related displacement. In this discussion, he breaks down where things stand today in terms of a coordinated response and how things might evolve in the future. Subscribe and please leave us a review on your podcast service of choice.   Chapters 01:15 Evolution of Global Displacement Policy 06:45 Climate Change Enters the Displacement Agenda (2004–2010) 10:28 The Nansen Initiative and the Birth of the Platform on Disaster Displacement 17:55 Lessons Learned: Bottom-Up Over Top-Down Approaches 19:58 Navigating Declining Funding and Political Fragmentation 24:30 Advice for the Next Generation