As a part of the Pacific Climate Change Migration and Human Security (Phase II) Programme, ESCAP is organizing the Regional Exchange meeting in collaboration with PCCM-HS partners (IOM, ILO, OHCHR, Pacific Island Forum Secretariat, Platform on Disaster Displacement) and other development partners. 

Overview 

The climate change crisis, disasters, and other natural calamities present a profound challenge to communities across the Pacific Islands. As sea levels rise and extreme weather events intensify, many communities are reaching the limits of adaptation and are confronted not only with the prospect of leaving their ancestral lands, but also with the deep disruption, loss, and trauma that accompany such movement — experiences that can reverberate through generations and profoundly affect cultural identity and collective well-being.

In 2023, Pacific Islands Forum Leaders endorsed a forward-thinking and hopeful plan: the Pacific Regional Framework on Climate Mobility (PRFCM). This framework serves as a guide for governments and communities, ensuring that any movement related to climate change is grounded in leadership and collaboration, human rights, protecting cultural identity and dignity and continuing statehood, nationality and associated rights. The PRFCM and its subsequent Implementation Plan were developed under the leadership and oversight of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Climate Mobility co-chaired by the Government of Fiji and the Government of Tuvalu. PCCM-HS programme supported the Pacific member governments throughout this process. 

The PRFCM outlines Planned Relocation as one of the 5 core areas for priority action, alongside Staying in Place, Displacement, Migration and Stranded Migrants. Support by technical partners through the PCCMHS programme includes the development of the Pacific Guidance on Internal Planned Relocation (PGPIR), which responds to one of the commitments stipulated under the PRFCM to develop regional planned relocation guidelines. 

The regional exchange will provide an opportunity for national governments and stakeholders at country level to share country level and community specific experiences, fostering mutual learning across the region. It will serve as a platform for regional peer to peer dialogue and collaboration, helping to catalyse more in-depth bilateral exchanges on planned relocation and support the implementation of priority 3 of the PRFCM Implementation Plan.

The objectives of the 2026 Pacific Climate Mobility Regional Exchange are to: 

1. Take stock of the work of the Joint Working Group and discuss the new pathway for advancing the implementation of the PRFCM.
2. Launch the Pacific Guidance on Internal Planned Relocation (PGIPR) as the commitment of the PRFCM.
3. Support a structured regional and national peer to peer exchange among governments and non-state actors on planned relocation.