15 December 2025

Latin America has become a global reference for policy innovation on climate-related human mobility. Since 2015, the region has advanced legal and policy responses to human mobility in the context of disasters, climate change and environmental degradation, drawing on a tradition of rights-based and cooperative governance. The Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda has played a central role in this evolution. Focusing on regional developments, this article examines how the Protection Agenda has supported key innovations, informed frameworks and shaped priorities for the coming decade.

A region on the frontline of climate disruption

Latin America is ‘highly exposed, vulnerable, and strongly impacted by climate change’, owing to inequalities, poverty and reliance on natural resources. Extreme droughts, heavy rainfall, tropical storms and sea-level rise already affect the region, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that these will intensify. Between 2000 and 2022, 1,534 disasters affected 190 million people, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone regions. Record hurricanes, floods, droughts and wildfires in 2024 further highlight the accelerating pace of climatic disruption. Impacts are uneven, with indigenous peoples and traditional communities disproportionately affected given their territorial ties, structural marginalization, and constrained adaptation options linked to their cultural and livelihood systems.

Human mobility is now part of the region’s adaptation story

Disasters and environmental degradation interact with long-standing migration systems, creating overlapping layers of (forced) population movements. In 2024, the Americas recorded 13.1 million internal displacements caused by disasters – the highest figure on record (IDMC, 2025). Climate- and environment-related hazards intersect with pre-existing conditions of poverty, violence and land insecurity, particularly in informal urban settlements and rural areas, intensifying migration and constraining adaptation options. Across the region, climate-related human mobility is neither new nor temporary, spanning voluntary adaptation efforts and displacements that expose persistent adaptation gaps and protection needs.

A regional tradition of cooperative governance

Latin America’s human rights tradition underpins its approach to climate-related human mobility. The Inter-American Human Rights System (IAHRS) has progressively affirmed State obligations of prevention, protection and remedy when climate change affects human mobility patterns, as reflected in recent resolutions of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and advisory opinions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR). These foundations created fertile ground for Latin America’s engagement with the Nansen Initiative, launched by Norway and Switzerland to strengthen protection for cross-border disaster-displacement. Regional consultations in San José (2013) and Quito (2015) positioned Latin American States, experts and civil-society organizations as co-architects of the Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda. The Protection Agenda complements existing regional frameworks, including the 1984 Cartagena Declaration and the 2014 Brazil Declaration and Plan of Action, as well as related Organization of American States (OAS) initiatives.

Latin America translates global commitments into regional and national frameworks

Over the past decade, Latin America has made progress in recognizing and addressing climate-related human mobility. According to the CLIMB Database, more than 500 national and regional instruments explicitly reference human mobility in the context of disasters, climate change and environmental degradation – around 90% at the national level and 10% at the regional level. Sub-regionally, most stem from South America (36%) and Central America (28%), followed by the Caribbean, illustrating growing policy convergence. Rather than being stand-along instruments on the topic, these frameworks primarily emerge from related domains where human mobility is increasingly recognized as a cross-cutting concern. Thematically, measures cluster around climate change (35.5%), disaster management (26.5%), human mobility (22%) and sustainable development (16%).

At the regional level, 55 frameworks now address the topic across migration governance, climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction (DRR) and sustainable development. Most focus on reducing environmental drivers of movement through adaptation and resilience measures rather than directly governing human mobility. Yet, a clear evolution is visible. Recent instruments – including the Cartagena +40 Chile Declaration and Plan of Action (2024–34) and regional guidelines under the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM) and the South American Conference on Migration (SACM) – introduce specific and operational measures, including temporary protection and humanitarian admission provisions. These frameworks increasingly translate the Protection Agenda’s principles into regionally grounded practices.

The steady growth of legal and policy measures reflects a regional shift toward more integrated, preventive and rights-based responses to climate-related human mobility. Such advances provide the groundwork for the thematic agendas that follow – human rights, migration governance, climate adaptation and DRR – where the influence of the Protection Agenda is progressively more visible across Latin America.

The region emerges as a global reference for rights-based approaches to climate-related human mobility

Recent regional developments have strengthened Latin America’s legal architecture linking climate change, human mobility and human rights. The Inter-American human rights system defines concrete State obligations, positioning the region as a reference in protection-sensitive approaches. In Resolution No 3/21 on human rights and the climate emergency, the IACHR recognized climate-related displacement and identified migrants and displaced persons as particularly vulnerable. It called on States to ensure respect for the principle of non-refoulement; procedural safeguards; non-discriminatory access to health; and access to justice and reparation. Building on this, Resolution No 2/24 on human mobility in the context of climate change underscored the multicausal nature of human mobility – shaped by inequality, insecurity and environmental degradation – and  further defined States’ obligations concerning protection, coordination and procedural guarantees.

The IACtHR reinforced this trajectory. Its Advisory Opinion OC-23/17 on the Environment and Human Rights recognized the right not to be forcibly displaced due to environmental harm, laying a preventive approach to displacement. Its Advisory Opinion OC-32/25 on Climate Emergency and Human Rights affirmed the right to a safe and stable climate as a human right, with implications for preventing forced movement, guiding adaptation duties and strengthening climate litigation. It also acknowledged that people displaced in the context of climate change may be eligible for international protection, noting that climate impacts may trigger States’ non-refoulement obligations under both international and regional law.

The rights-based momentum converges with the Cartagena +40 Chile Declaration and Plan of Action (2024–34), which includes a dedicated chapter on the topic. It outlines three operational programmes: (i) Prevention, Preparedness, Response and Humanitarian Action in Affected Countries; (ii) Protection and Inclusion of Cross-Border Displaced Persons; and (iii) Regional Solidarity on Displacement in the context of Disasters. Its reference to ‘persons displaced in contexts of disasters or adverse effects of climate change’ mirrors the terminology of the Protection Agenda, reinforcing alignment between regional and global processes.

Together, these instruments anchor climate-related human mobility within a regional human rights framework, clarifying States’ obligations and promoting harmonization consistent with the protection logic of the Protection Agenda.

The region’s migration architecture translates the Protection Agenda’s principles into concrete guidelines

Regional migration frameworks in Latin America increasingly incorporate disaster and climate dimensions, operationalizing the recommendations set out in the Protection Agenda. Two main consultative mechanisms – the RCM and SACM – have adopted practical tools and approaches to enhance protection for people moving across in the context of disasters, climate change, and environmental degradation.

In 2016, the RCM adopted the Guide to Effective Practices for the Protection of Persons Moving across Borders in the context of Disasters, developed with the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD). Drawing on recommendations from the Protection Agenda, it promotes the flexible use of existing migration categories – such as humanitarian visas, temporary admission and suspension of deportation – and encourages bilateral cooperation through standard operating procedures (SOPs), without creating new legal obligations.

The SACM Guidelines for Cross-Border Displacement in the context of Disasters extend these practices to South America, promoting flexible entry and stay arrangements, contingency measures in countries of origin, and integration of human mobility into DRR and climate adaptation policies. The 2021 Buenos Aires Declaration advanced this agenda by establishing the Thematic Network on Environment, Climate Change, Disasters and Migration to coordinate policy coherence, capacity-building and joint responses across member states.

Early warning and cross-border cooperation reshape disaster risk management for displaced people

Regional and sub-regional frameworks are gradually integrating human mobility considerations into DRR strategies. In line with the Protection Agenda, this reflects recognition that early warning, evacuation, relocation and durable solutions must be coordinated within comprehensive risk management systems. The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) underscores the region’s prioritization of multi-hazard early warning systems as a core pillar of resilience, with cross-border cooperation essential for timely alerts and shared response capacities.

The Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean has been central to this progress. Its 2023 Regional Action Plan for the Implementation of the Sendai Framework calls for regional action on climate-related human mobility, while the 2021 Ministerial Declaration of the Fourth High-Level Meeting on the Implementation of the Sendai Framework urges multi-level responses to prevent and reduce displacement risks.

At the sub-regional level, mechanisms now incorporate human mobility-sensitive approaches. The Central American Integration System (SICA) adopted the Regional Plan for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (2024–30), which links migration and displacement to preparedness and response. The MERCOSUR Disaster Risk Management Strategy (2019–2030) includes human mobility provisions and is complemented by a draft Agreement on Migration Management in the Event of a Massive and/or Abrupt Entry of Displaced Persons – currently under discussion. In the Andean Community (CAN), the Andean Strategy for Disaster Risk Management (2017) and its Implementation Plan (2018) promote cooperation to reduce displacement risks, while the Caribbean, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) adopted a Regional Protocol for the Integrated Protection of Children and Adolescents in Emergency and Disaster Situations (2020), which includes provisions for the protection of children displaced or affected by disasters. Importantly, with support of the PDD, countries have already tested these mechanisms through cross-border disaster-displacement simulation exercises – including along the Colombia–Ecuador border (2023) and between Costa Rica and Panama (2024) – strengthening preparedness and operational coordination in real-time scenarios.

Regional information-sharing platforms such as the Regional Centre for Disaster Information for Latin America and the Caribbean (CRID) support early warning, mapping and coordination. Despite such progress, integration remains uneven and reactive. Most frameworks prioritize sudden-onset disasters – floods, hurricanes or landslides – while slow-onset processes like droughts or sea-level rise receive limited attention.

Despite progress, gaps still hinder a coherent regional response

Gaps persist in translating regional ambitions into effective protection for people at risk – or already experiencing – climate-related mobility. Legal and policy approaches remain fragmented, with limited harmonization across sub-regions and institutions. Across thematic agendas, distinct weaknesses emerge:

• Rights-based frameworks are expanding, but monitoring and access to remedies remain limited, especially for those moving due to slow-onset processes.
• Migration governance offers flexible humanitarian measures, yet long-term residence pathways and durable solutions are scarce.
• DRR frameworks focus on sudden-onset disasters, with fewer tools to anticipate displacement or address protection in recovery and reconstruction phases.
• While at least 28 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and 20 National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) across the Americas reference climate-related human mobility, regional climate adaptation frameworks provide limited recognition or coordination on the topic, underscoring a gap between national progress and regional coherence.

These sectoral gaps are reinforced by cross-cutting constraints:

• Data and evidence gaps hinder anticipatory planning and evaluation.
• Weak coordination between migration, climate, DRR and development sectors limits coherence.
• Structural inequalities and vulnerabilities restrict access to information, participation and assistance, shaping both exposure and mobility options.

The Protection Agenda remains a conceptual anchor, yet its translation into enforceable measures remains uneven. Strengthening these foundations is key to moving from recognition to concrete protection, ensuring that human mobility contributes to resilience and dignity across the region.

Translating regional leadership into durable solutions: Charting the next decade of action on climate-related human mobility

A coherent whole-of-government is needed to ensure rights-based responses deliver practical outcomes. Going forward, action should focus on four key priorities:

• Strengthen regional cooperation and harmonization to consolidate common standards on admission and protection across sub-regions, with mechanisms to track implementation and impacts.
• Expand protection-sensitive pathways, including humanitarian visas, temporary stay mechanisms, regularization measures and long-term residence, with tailored safeguards for indigenous peoples, traditional communities and those affected by immobility.
• Move beyond generic references by including concrete, monitorable and context-specific measures on human mobility within climate adaptation and DRR strategies, ensuring that implementation and results can be effectively evaluated.
• Develop anticipatory measures to prevent displacement, planned relocation with community participation, migration-as-adaptation strategies, as well as recognition of non-economic losses linked to land, culture and identity.
• Invest in data, evidence and participatory research, improving monitoring systems, enabling visibility of slow-onset processes and ‘invisible’ or trapped communities, also ensuring those most affected shape policy and accountability mechanisms.

As the pressures related to climate change intensify, the Protection Agenda’s spirit of solidarity, prevention and cooperation remains key. Its principles continue to guide Latin America’s evolving response, ensuring that human mobility is addressed not as a failure of adaptation, but rather as a cornerstone of resilience and human dignity.

Diogo Andreolla Serraglio, Fernanda de Salles Cavedon-Capdeville and Erika Pires Ramos are from the South American Network for Environmental Migrations (RESAMA)