United Nations Launches the CLIMB Database: the First Comprehensive Policies and Practices Tracking Tool for Climate-Induced Migration

5 October 2023 - Geneva – In response to the policy needs brought about by the complex challenges of human mobility amid the climate crisis, the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) together with the United Nations Network on Migration launched today the CLIMB Database.

The repository compiles nearly 2,000 policies and laws and is the first database consolidating key data on policies, legal instruments and practices for policymakers and researchers in the fields of human mobility, disasters, climate change, and environmental degradation. CLIMB was born as a result of the need to enhance policy coherence across existing frameworks and to integrate human mobility scenarios in climate change policies, plans and actions. Equally, CLIMB also helps policymakers integrate environmental considerations into migration strategies.

“Seventy percent of the countries most impacted by climate change are among the world's most fragile countries. This makes climate change the defining crisis of our time, and it's why the UN Network on Migration, under IOM's leadership, along with our partners at the Platform for Disaster Displacement, are at the centre of the solution,” said Amy E. Pope, IOM Director General and Coordinator of the UN Network on Migration.

Every year, millions of people find themselves compelled to move in the context of sudden-onset hazards, such as floods and storms, while the lives and livelihoods of countless others are affected by the gradual impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. Unless managed safely and effectively, these movements can challenge human security and rights, especially in rapidly growing urban areas.

“Our knowledge and expertise can help governments prepare and respond to climate-induced migration. The CLIMB database is a goldmine of information that can help develop the policies and practices that countries need so they can act in advance.”

While this database draws on commitments outlined in the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), especially its Objective 2, it is highly relevant to other global policy frameworks, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

The CLIMB Database marks a substantial step in providing more available, accessible, and disaggregated data on policy development to address this increasingly pressing issue. Today's launch highlighted the importance of collaborative efforts, data-driven policy development, and the global community's commitment to safeguarding the rights and well-being of those on the move or at risk of displacement in a changing climate.

Hosted on the UN Network on Migration Hub, the CLIMB Database is the result of a collective project led by PDD and IOM, under the UN Network on Migration's workstream on climate change, the GCM and the Paris Agreement, in collaboration with various partners and with funding from Germany.

For more information, please contact:

Florence Kim (UN Network on Migration secretariat), fkim@iom.int

Chloé Lavau, Communications Officer for Climate Change and Migration, clavau@iom.int

Chirine El-Labbane, chirinee@unops.org