Reflecting on Climate-Induced Migration as a Human Security Issue: An Internally-Displaced-Person-Centered Approach to Understanding Displacement

Even with the decrease in global fatalities due to extreme weather conditions and natural hazards, the impacts of these disasters continue to increase, including economic and social losses that threaten people’s health, safety, and sense of peace. The most affected among vulnerable groups are internally displaced persons (IDPs).

IDPs often have limited options to move to a safer location and are thus vulnerable to potential future crises. As the author notes in the paper, "During environmentally-induced displacement, people’s insecurities are further heightened; they confront the compounded challenges of their pre-disaster predicaments and the accompanying insecurities from their displacement.” Therefore, this paper emphasizes the need to focus on IDPs at the core of addressing environmentally-driven forced migration as a human security issue.

This paper combines the concepts of environmental migration, internal displacement, and human security. Further, it argues for the effective realization of protection strategies and empowerment initiatives to ensure comprehensive and sustainable recovery of IDPs.

This paper highlights the case of IDPs affected by Typhoon Haiyan (2013) in the Philippines. The study is based on a combination of fieldwork methods and visits conducted in 2015, 2016, and 2020.

The paper was published online in the Journal of Human Security Studies, Vol.10, No.1, in June 2021.