An inventory tool to assess displacement data in the context of weather and climate-related events

Abstract

Weather and climate-related events have already altered human mobility patterns and led to displacement. While the evidence base is low due to data gaps and scarcity, climate change is expected to reinforce disaster-related displacement. Here we systematically analyze how components of internal displacement data are related to disaster outcomes in Somalia, Afghanistan, the Marshall Islands and Bangladesh using a data inventory tool. We contribute the first programmatic approach to evaluate the evidence of extreme weather impacts on internal displacement in four distinct case studies. We find that the data evidence differs considerably from the disaster displacement process recorded qualitatively in reports. We provide a straightforward, bottom-up application guide that ultimately improves the understanding of changing disaster displacement risks for researchers and practitioners alike. We thereby show nuances in data availability and granularity for potential causal statements between climate change and internal displacement. We conclude that the implementation of data-focused climate policy and action could address obstacles to averting and minimizing disaster displacement.