Social protection and informal job market reform for tackling the climate migration nexus

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), London, published this working paper on September 30, 2022. It was written by Ritu Bharadwaj, Nikhil Raj, N Karthikeyan, Roopashree Shanker, Johnson Topno and Daljeet Kaur. The research was funded by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office of the UK government under the Infrastructure for Climate Resilient Growth programme.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, (IPCC) estimates displacement of 31 to 72 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America by 2050 due to water scarcity, rising sea levels and crop failures. Already, according to the IPCC, more than 20 million people across the world have faced displacement each year since 2008 due to extreme weather events. This working paper highlights how communities in two districts in India – Kendrapara in Odisha and Palamu in Jharkhand – are forced into distress migration due to changing climate, lack of social protection measures and marginalisation.The paper examines instances of both slow-onset and rapid-onset climate hazards – drought in Jharkhand, floods and cyclone in Odisha. It recommends improved social protection measures and reforms in the labour market to support communities before, during and after migration and for those who are left behind. The 38-page working paper contains a summary followed by four sections: Introduction (Section 1); Influence of climate impacts, access to social protection and marginalisation on migration (Section 2); Access to social safety net and protection under job market regulation: issues faced by migrants before, during and after migration (Section 3); and Recommendations (Section 4). It also provides an ‘Overview of methodology’ as an annexure.