Loss and damage migration refers to population movements caused by climate change impacts that communities can no longer adapt to or absorb — the "residual" harm that remains after mitigation and adaptation have been exhausted. The concept sits at the intersection of climate policy and migration governance, drawing its name from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) workstream on loss and damage.
The idea entered formal climate diplomacy through the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (WIM), established at COP19 in 2013. Human mobility was explicitly recognised as a thematic area, leading to the creation of the Task Force on Displacement (TFD) under the 2015 Paris Agreement decision text (Decision 1/CP.21, paragraph 49). The TFD's mandate is to develop recommendations for averting, minimising, and addressing displacement linked to climate change.
Loss and damage migration covers a spectrum:
- Sudden-onset displacement from cyclones, floods, and wildfires.
- Slow-onset movement linked to sea-level rise, desertification, salinisation, and glacial retreat.
- Planned relocation of communities whose territories become uninhabitable.
- Trapped populations — people who cannot move despite needing to, also recognised in the loss and damage discourse.
A central political question is whether financing under the Loss and Damage Fund, agreed at COP27 (2022) in Sharm el-Sheikh and operationalised at COP28 (2023) in Dubai, should cover mobility-related costs such as relocation, livelihood reconstruction, and cross-border protection. Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group, and the V20 have pushed hardest for inclusion.
The term is contested. It is distinct from "climate refugees" — a label without legal standing under the 1951 Refugee Convention — and overlaps with concepts in the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (2018) and the Nansen Initiative's Protection Agenda (2015). Researchers caution against framing all climate mobility as loss, since migration is also a legitimate adaptation strategy.
Example
In 2022, the government of Tuvalu began digitising its territory and pursuing legal recognition of statehood after submergence, citing loss and damage migration as central to its diplomacy at COP27.
Frequently asked questions
No. 'Climate refugee' has no basis in the 1951 Refugee Convention, while loss and damage migration is a policy framing under the UNFCCC referring to mobility caused by climate impacts beyond adaptation limits.
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