Climate Migration  Background

Methods

To estimate the amount of development aid spent on climate migration, we searched all OECD-DAC grants (2002-2018) using keywords related to both migration and climate and excluded those related to geophysical hazards like earthquakes, tsunamis, or volcanos. 

As such, the data represents specifically climate change-related migration, not the broader category of environmental migration or disaster displacement. 

The data and findings presented on this site are preliminary as we continue to refine the algorithm for identifying grants related to climate migration.

Findings

In total, there were 4,933 grants amounting to $3.9 billion spent on climate migration from 2002-2018. Climate migration aid amounted to 0.22 percent of total DAC aid and 3.17 percent of migration management aid during the same period. However, climate migration aid was only 2.18 percent of overall climate aid. Climate migration aid increased dramatically from $36.1 million in 2002 to $247.3 million in 2018, an increase of over 580 percent.

The largest purpose of climate migration grants was $754.8 million (19%) for material relief assistance and services, often for displaced people after natural disasters or climate events. This was followed by $461.4 million for transportation (12%), $270 million for emergency food relief (7%), and $247.6 million on water supply (6%).

The largest total donations occurred in 2010 with almost a half billion US dollars, much of which went to help those displaced by the 2010 floods in Pakistan. Figure 1 shows that climate migration aid is inconsistent, often following climate disasters, but has increased overall in the last two decades.

The largest channel for climate migration grants were recipient governments (central governments, public sector institutions, and local governments), amounting to $1.34 billion or 34 percent of all climate migration funding, followed by $1.07 billion (27%) for UN agencies. UNHCR was the largest key channel for aid through the UN, receiving more than $429 million (11%) for climate migration activities, with the World Food Programme (WFP) receiving $270 million (7%) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) receiving $109 million (3%). These organizations often provide immediate relief for people displaced by disaster or climate-related events. Other notable channels included $390 million (10%) for donor country-based NGOs, $86.8 million (2%) for developing country-based NGOs, and $75 million (2%) for international NGOs. Surprisingly, IOM was not in the top organizations implementing projects on climate migration with only $51 million in grants (1%). 

New Rio Marker: Climate Migration

The OECD set up a “Rio markers system” in 1998 to track the different types of development aid related to the Rio Conventions on biodiversity, environment, desertification, mitigation, and adaptation. We propose that a sixth marker should be created, specifically for climate migration with the following criteria: 

1. Migration: Grants must address any number of different forms of human mobility caused by climate change, including (planned) relocation, temporary and permanent displacement, short-distance movements, international migration, forced or voluntary, refugees, IDPs, or asylum seekers. 

2. Climate change: Grants must be related to recent anthropogenic climate change, including drought, floods, cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons. 

3. Non-Geophysical Hazards: Grants should be excluded that are related to natural disasters that are geophysical like earthquakes, tsunamis, or volcano eruptions.

A new Rio marker will enable states and researchers  to more accurately track development aid related to climate migration, in addition to better understanding the need, use, implementation, and impact.