The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI) has developed this bibliometric analysis of existing literature at the nexus of work on climate change, human mobility, and human rights.
Climate change affects people and communities in a variety of ways. It can negatively impact elements of their livelihoods, health, and safety, as well as other areas, shaping their decisions on whether to stay, or try and find a better place to live by moving. Climate change has already altered the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather, increasing vulnerability to disasters and resulting in widespread social, economic, and environmental losses. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre stated that 22.3 million people were displaced by weather-related disasters, such as floods and storms, in 2021. There is no universally agreed definition of climate-related human mobility or displacement, but it is accepted that the terminology broadly refers to the movement of people driven by sudden or progressive changes in the weather or climate, including temporary and permanent, seasonal and singular, and voluntary and forced movements.
Traditionally, climate change and the responses to it have been approached as ecological and environmental problems. It is only relatively recently that mainstream conceptions of climate change have broadened to include considerations of human rights. Although there is an emerging field of research and publications on the human rights implications of climate-related displacement, in the mainstream climate change and disaster-related displacement discourse, human rights often remain a peripheral concern. This is a rather unique condition because human rights have always been at the centre of displacement discourse, particularly with regard to conflict-related displacement. In contrast, most research approaches climate-related displacement from a risk-centric perspective. This approach perceives human mobility as a response to the risks posed by climate change and disaster incidents, giving more attention to the push factors that drive people to move from a location instead of the movement itself, the destination, or those unable to move.
Given the abovementioned context, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI) has developed this bibliometric analysis of existing literature at the nexus of work on climate change, human mobility, and human rights. The report has three objectives: 1) to analyse the existing state of knowledge in the fields of climate change, human mobility, and human rights (including more specific themes such as displacement, gender equality, and social inclusion), in the context of the Asia Pacific region; 2) to identify and assess the research gaps and emerging trends in the fields of climate change, human mobility, and human rights (including more specific themes such as displacement, gender equality, and social inclusion), in the context of the Asia Pacific region; and 3) to identify the research outlook and possible avenues for research in the field of climate change, human mobility, and human rights (including on more specific themes such as displacement, gender equality, and social inclusion), in the context of the Asia Pacific region. A draft of this report was presented and discussed during the Asia-Pacific Conference on Climate Change, Human Mobility, and the Human Rights Nexus that was conducted by RWI in October 2022. This report incorporates the findings and recommendations from this conference.