Climate & Displacement
Climate change is making disasters more intense and more frequent. Sometimes disasters related to climate change – such as wildfires or hurricanes – strike instantly. Families lose their homes in a matter of minutes.
In other cases, the impacts of climate change add up over time. Years of unpredictable weather and failed harvests take their toll. Adapting to environmental changes becomes more difficult and more expensive. Some farmers and herders must migrate to survive--as we reaffirmed in a 2021 study with partner communities in five countries.
Leaving home should never be the only way to feed your family. CWS helps communities build resilience to climate change. If families leave home, it should be by choice, not out of desperation.
Most climate migration happens within a country’s borders, including in the United States. We must help people displaced within their home countries to live with dignity. We must also support cities to grow sustainably as rural-to-urban migration increases. And as climate change drives people across borders, we must offer safety and compassion. No matter what causes them to flee, everyone deserves dignity and a warm welcome. That’s why we advocate for the United States and countries around the world to plan humane responses now.
Moving Towards Resilience: A Study of Climate Change, Adaptation and Migration
Browse the videos below to hear from some of the people who participated in this research.
Georgia – Of course, the danger is growing.
Kenya – On top of it all, children are also hungry
Haiti – The soil can no longer produce.
Explore related work
Latest Updates
Extreme Heat, Climate Change and Displacement: Who is at Greatest Risk?
Each decade over the past 60 years has been hotter than the one before it, and the past 11 years have been the hottest on record. As heat season begins this year, extreme temperatures and drought are jeopardizing food production, health, and livelihoods, especially in low-income communities. Climate-related disasters displace more people every year than conflicts, and refugees and displaced people are the hardest hit, with an estimated three-quarters of the world’s refugees and displaced living in climate hotspots. CWS supports families affected by disaster and displacement with emergency response, recovery assistance and long-term resilience-building.
Climate Adaptation & Resilience in CWS Programs
By July 2024, climate scientists were already projecting that this calendar year will end as the hottest one on record and have begun tracking the potential impacts of continued warming on critical climate system tipping points. Human-driven climate change continues to disproportionately impact poor, marginalized and excluded households and communities, both in the United States and globally. In many communities …
The Unstoppable Rostom Gamisonia
The meaning of life is something we all question at some point, but to our colleague and partner, Rostom Gamisonia, the answer is clear: “This is the meaning of my life: To do and to help people get out of their sufferings and to share what we have. We have a great poet, Shota Rustaveli, who says, ‘What you give …