Where Will People Live? Climate Mobility, Displacement and What Comes Next
About the Session
As the planet warms, one of the most consequential questions is also one of the most human: where will people be able to live?
Extreme heat, drought, flooding, sea-level rise, food insecurity, and the loss of livelihoods are already changing the conditions that make places habitable. Climate change rarely causes displacement in isolation. It compounds economic insecurity, conflict, discrimination, and other pressures that can make staying difficult, leaving necessary, and returning impossible.
Our systems are not yet designed for the scale or complexity of mobility that may follow.
Some people will be displaced suddenly by disasters. Others will move gradually as livelihoods become less viable. Refugees and internally displaced people may find existing vulnerabilities intensified by climate shocks. Young people may migrate toward cities or across borders in search of work and opportunity. And communities already facing discrimination, including LGBTIQ+ people, can encounter additional risks around mobility, housing, safety, and economic security.
Preparing for climate mobility therefore requires more than responding once people have been displaced. It means thinking earlier about habitability, livelihoods, housing, labor markets, social protection, legal pathways, and the places likely to receive people. It also means learning from refugee-led and community-led organizations that are already developing solutions under pressure.
This session will explore what it means to prepare for a world in which mobility becomes an increasingly important part of climate adaptation. Where will people be able to stay? Where will they move? What would make movement safer and more dignified? And how can governments and communities plan for mobility in ways that create opportunity rather than waiting for displacement to become a humanitarian emergency?
Discussion Group Leaders
Andonis Marden is Executive Director at Refugee-Led Research Hub, University of Oxford, expanding access to advanced education, research, and career opportunities for refugees and others affected by displacement.
Jaspreet Singh is Co-Founder at ICAAD, advancing human rights and systemic equity through law, technology, and art.
Kayla Ajavon is Associate Director of Development at RefugePoint, advancing equitable funding partnerships that support long-term solutions and opportunities for refugees.
Tyler Nelson is Founding Convener at Waypoint Commons, building shared standards, evidence, and funding pathways that help LGBTIQ+ organizations operate safely and sustainably.
Mandeep Kaur Sanghera OBE is a human rights advocate at Female Advocacy Foundation International, advancing gender equality, migrant rights, social justice, and the empowerment of women and girls globally.
What to Expect
A forward-looking conversation about climate change, habitability, displacement, and migration. Participants will explore the spectrum from forced displacement to planned and opportunity-driven mobility, and what different forms of movement require from governments, funders, humanitarian organizations, employers, and communities.
Refugee-led responses and experiences from communities already navigating displacement will help ground a wider discussion about preparing for what comes next.
Who This Is For
This session is for migration and refugee organizations, governments, climate and adaptation practitioners, humanitarian organizations, funders, employers, youth organizations, community-led organizations, researchers, and others thinking about how climate change will reshape where and how people live.
What You Will Get Out of It
A framework for understanding climate mobility beyond disaster-driven displacement
Perspectives on how habitability, livelihoods, conflict, and inequality interact to shape migration
Lessons from refugee-led and community-led responses already adapting to displacement
Approaches to safer housing, economic resilience, protection, and mobility for communities facing compounded risks
Ideas for preparing governments, labor markets, and receiving communities before displacement becomes crisis