In 2023, United Nations University - EHS released a report exploring the work of CJRF partners addressing climate mobility. One key topic it explores is how migration can be a consequence of L&D.
In Bangladesh, this question is not theoretical. Declining agricultural production due to floods, salinization, and other climate-related hazards is reducing incomes and employment. Families are pushed into debt, and many are left with no option but to migrate in search of livelihoods elsewhere. Migration here is not a choice, but an unavoidable outcome of climate-induced loss and damage of their traditional livelihoods that continues to shape lives and futures.
CJRF partners are working to address these realities from different angles. Helvetas supported a youth-led migration hub within the local government, to ensure those who choose to migrate can do so as successfully as possible. Using data about migration patterns, it has produced socio-economic studies to serve as powerful evidence for advocacy, helping influence government and stakeholders to take action on behalf of those most affected.
Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), meanwhile, works with populations that have been displaced by climate impacts but do not have the means to migrate, and remain trapped in temporary settlements, alongside planned relocation of households. They engage with community teams and a youth forum that play active roles in the relocation processes. These volunteers lead social dialogues, carry out needs assessments, and even help identify relocation sites and install water systems, ensuring that adaptation strategies are community-driven and responsive to real needs.
Together, these efforts show a connected approach to climate mobility, one that brings together evidence, advocacy, and community leadership.
This illustration by artist Victor Ynami (@victor_ynami) helps us visualize the human toll of this slow-moving crisis. Stay tuned as we share more visual stories from CJRF’s partners and the UNU-EHS report—stories that challenge us to rethink what Loss and Damage can look like, and who bears its weight.