Migration in National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs)

Abstract

Migration can play an important role in building adaptive capacity to climate change in low-income countries, for example by diversifying household income sources and leading to positive development impacts. However, there is relatively little research on how climate change adaptation policies account for migration. The Migration RPC’s review of National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) created by Least Developed Countries (LDCs) investigated the ways in which these policy documents discuss migration. The review found that NAPAs’ discussion of migration issues varied widely: while a number of NAPAs saw migration as a key variable in their adaptation plans, other countries scarcely accounted for it. Furthermore, NAPAs that did consider migration in their proposed adaptation activities were often concerned with reducing autonomous migration flows, which risks compromising the potential benefits migration can bring to poor people, in particular.