Climate risks for displaced populations: A scoping review

Forcibly displaced people are at the forefront of climate emergencies worldwide. This article presents a scoping review of the growing literature on climate risks for displaced populations, with the aim to synthesise current knowledge, highlight gaps, and develop a research agenda that can inform evidence-based policy interventions. The synthesis, based on 29 peer-reviewed journal articles, shows that displaced populations are disproportionately at risk to be negatively impacted by climate hazards, which is largely due to their high sensitivity, limited adaptive capacities and, in some cases, heightened exposure. The geographical scope of reviewed articles is narrowly focused on Southern Asia with a paucity of studies on climate-vulnerable refugee hosting states in Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East. Moreover, the literature heavily relies on case studies, which impedes the generalizability and comparability of findings. We argue for an inclusive and comprehensive climate risk research agenda that systematically maps the exposure of displaced populations to climate hazards, provides theory-driven research on how the social vulnerabilities of displaced populations are shaped by their sensitivities to extreme weather events and their adaptive capacities, and that applies comparative cross-country research that also includes host community populations. An inclusive climaterisk research agenda that takes into account displaced populations is essential for our commitment to the leave-no-one behind global policy agenda.

Keywords: Displaced populations, climate risk, vulnerability.

JEL Classification: Q54, O15, O18, Q56, I32