About the CLIMATE DISPLACEMENT LAB

Climate displacement is no longer a distant projection, it is a present and accelerating reality across South Asia. Floods, riverbank erosion, cyclones, sea-level rise, drought, and environmental degradation are reshaping landscapes and forcing communities to leave their homes. Yet much of this displacement remains insufficiently documented, especially at the local level where impacts are most severe and recurrent.

Climate Displacement Lab (CDL) was established to systematically document and analyze climate-related displacement across South Asia using standardized, event-level data. Our work focuses on recording displacement as it unfolds, identifying the precise location of origin, destination sites, hazard type, number of affected households, land categories involved, and the governance, eviction, and rehabilitation processes that shape outcomes. By integrating environmental, social, and institutional dimensions, CDL seeks to move beyond aggregate numbers toward a deeper understanding of how displacement actually occurs.

Global institutions provide essential national and international displacement estimates. However, granular documentation of climate-related displacement events, particularly in South Asia, remains limited. Climate Displacement Lab complements existing global efforts by building a transparent, regionally focused dataset that captures the complexity of local realities, including slow-onset erosion, repeated displacement, land loss, and interactions between climate hazards and governance processes.

South Asia is one of the most climate-vulnerable regions in the world, characterized by densely populated floodplains, dynamic river systems, expanding infrastructure, and complex land tenure systems. Despite this vulnerability, there has been no dedicated platform systematically coding climate displacement events at high resolution across the region. CDL addresses this gap by producing structured, comparable, and methodologically consistent data that supports research, journalism, policy design, and climate justice advocacy.

Climate displacement sits at the intersection of adaptation, development, land governance, and loss and damage. Effective responses require precise evidence, not only on how many people move, but why, how, and with what consequences. Climate Displacement Lab exists to generate that evidence and to contribute to more informed, accountable, and equitable climate governance.