Last week, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres issued a global SOS– Save Our Seas – regarding rising sea levels. “Surging seas are coming for us all,” Guterres warned, making an urgent plea for global leaders to invest in “new adaptation and protection measures.” These measures must foreground disability rights.
As sea levels rise, planned relocation – a process that involves moving entire communities from high-risk areas to new sites – is predicted to increase as a last resort after all efforts to adapt in place have failed. This process can take various forms. For example, some communities plan their own relocations and request governmental support, while in other instances, governments may force relocation against residents' wishes. When relocation is unavoidable, Human Rights Watch advocates for a rights-based approach that ensures affected communities have a voice in the process. However, important questions remain about the long-term impacts of relocation, particularly for marginalized groups, such as people with disabilities.
When I asked Dr. Andreas Kopf, who focuses on climate adaptation in the Pacific, about this subject, he said: “I’m not aware of any study that explicitly addresses the inclusivity of people with disabilities in the relocation discourse.” This apparent gap is significant, given people with disabilities face unique risks and have unique contributions to offer climate adaptation efforts.
A 2022 analysis of more than 400 planned relocation cases revealed significant challenges for communities, including inadequate participation in planning processes and a lack of key services in new locations. When we spoke, disability rights activist and CEO of the National Forum of Women with Disabilities in Pakistan, Abia Akram noted that the negative impacts of relocation exacerbate existing inequities and disproportionately impact people with disabilities, emphasizing increased barriers related to “employment, transportation, and infrastructure accessibility.”
To address such disparities, planned relocation efforts should include early and continuous consultation with people with disabilities and their representative organizations. People with disabilities have developed critical resilience strategies that can inform more equitable and inclusive climate adaptation. Governments need to acknowledge these contributions in policies and practices, including by actively involving people with disabilities in relocation planning and decision-making.
As climate impacts accelerate, embedding disability rights into planned relocation processes is essential to achieving more just and effective adaptation efforts for all.
