Climate Displacement and the Problem of Non-Economic Loss in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Agenda for Research

Multiple developments across Latin America and the Caribbean signal that the environmental drivers of migration are receiving more attention. For the first time, repeated calls for greater regional unity on climate at the annual Conference of Party (COP) meetings organized under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) led to a joint declaration by all 33 countries at November 2022’s COP27. The Organization of American States, meanwhile, has undertaken an effort to establish common regional standards for responding to disaster displacement. We have also seen an increase in sub-regional energy to address climate-induced displacement, including creation in 2017 of the Comprehensive Regional Protection and Solutions Framework (MIRPS) to tackle the growing problem of forced displacement in Central America and Mexico and more regular coordination of CARICOM with Pacific Island countries around the need for new climate adaptation funding. Despite the fact that the politics around climate migration continue to limit policy progress toward greater inter-regional cooperation, the region has begun to respond to a projected large increase in climate migration in the near future.