Climate Change and Statelessness

Learn about the opportunities to better protect and provide for stateless people adversely affected by climate change, and to prevent additional people from becoming stateless because of climate change and its cascading effects.

2024 was the hottest year on record and capped off the hottest decade since systematic record-keeping began. Warming air and ocean temperatures have fueled a rise in extreme weather events, which have displaced tens of millions of people a year and cost trillions of dollars. Between 2000 and 2019, 3.9 billion people were affected by 6,681 climate-related disasters—an increase of 7,000,000 people and 3,000 disasters as compared to the period from 1980 to 1999. An estimated 3.3 to 3.6 billion people are now highly vulnerable to climate change.

As the impacts of climate change worsen, increased attention is being paid to the intersections between climate change and statelessness. Stateless communities frequently live on the margins of society, without adequate access to legal protections or basic services. Extreme weather events and rising sea levels related to climate change are worsening the plights of the estimated over 15 million people who are currently stateless, and placing millions of additional people at risk of statelessness.

Despite immense challenges, there are opportunities to better protect and provide for stateless people adversely affected by climate change, and to prevent additional people from becoming stateless because of climate change and its cascading effects. These opportunities include greater investment in climate change mitigation and adaptation measures that benefit stateless and at-risk communities, the inclusion of stateless people and people at-risk in national development and disaster management plans, and legal frameworks for preventing statelessness and protecting stateless people affected by climate disasters.

Critical to the success of any opportunity is the meaningful participation of stateless people and people at risk of statelessness.

How do climate change and statelessness intersect?

Climate change’s worsening impact on statelessness

Most stateless people reside in regions that are highly vulnerable to climate change. The largest registered stateless populations are in areas of Bangladesh, Côte d’Ivoire, and Thailand with high levels of poverty, climate-sensitive economies, and low levels of climate readiness. In these contexts, the worsening impacts of climate hazards and their political, social, and economic effects aggravate the existing vulnerabilities of stateless communities. During sudden or slow-onset disasters, stateless people may be further excluded from accessing public services, like emergency relief, health care, or temporary shelter. Likewise, stateless people who are barred from formal labor markets and rely on informal economies may be worse affected by extreme weather events and denied access to social assistance.

Stateless communities, too, are frequently under-represented in national and local planning related to development, disaster risk reduction and management, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Consequently, these plans underserve stateless people and reinforce their marginalization. They also miss opportunities to benefit from the expertise and resources of stateless communities to meet the needs of stateless people and citizens.

Climate induced statelessness

In 2022, nearly 32 million people were internally displaced by extreme weather events, an increase of 41 percent as compared to 2008. Most people uprooted by climate-related disasters are displaced inside the countries in which they live. Data collection about the scale of displacement across international borders is less systematic, but the number is believed to also be significant. Moreover, it may grow—particularly in regions like Southern and East Africa that experience repeated and protracted disasters.

In addition to being a direct cause, climate change is regarded as a “risk multiplier” for displacement. As extreme weather depletes natural resources, reduces useable land, and damages or destroys property, it can create or exacerbate food and water insecurity, economic and political instability, social discord, inequality, and conflict. These developments, in turn, may drive displacement or incentivize migration. The World Bank projects that by 2050 climate change could propel more than 216 million people to move within national borders. This would include 85 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa, 48 million people in East Asia and the Pacific, and 40 million in South Asia.

Whether displaced by climate change or driven to migrate by its effects, people on the move, in temporary relocation sites, or settled in new areas are at heightened risk of statelessness. Many, for example, who lose civil documents that establish their nationality—like national identification cards or passports—may be unable to replace them because of evidentiary requirements or discrimination; they may also struggle to register births. Challenges to replace or obtain documentation may be even greater for separated families, or for people who move across international borders. People who are displaced or migrate internationally may also be at higher risk of loss of citizenship because extended residence abroad.

How are our grantee partners responding?

GSF currently supports 25 statelessness organizations across five continents. Grantees and other grassroots initiatives based within stateless and at-risk communities are at the forefront of responding to climate change through actions that address emergency needs, protect the environment, responsibly manage resources, promote sustainable development, and increase access to education and re-skilling.

In Malaysia, for example, Iskul Sama DiLaut Omadal works with the Bajau people, a stateless and traditionally seafaring community whose way of life is impacted by climate change and environmental degradation. Iskul implements projects to protect marine resources, strengthen waste management, improve educational levels, and foster community and youth development. Similarly, in the Dominican Republic, the Center for Sustainable Development supports stateless Dominicans of Haitian descent to improve food security and livelihoods that are less vulnerable to climate-related extreme weather.

Drawing on their expertise about community climate risks, needs, and solutions, grantees in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa also advocate with local officials, national policymakers, and regional and global bodies for climate responses that empower and protect stateless and at-risk communities. In Kenya, for instance, Haki na Sheria campaigns for the rights of pastoralist communities at risk of climate-related displacement and statelessness. This includes the meaningful participation and protection of pastoralist and other marginalized groups in climate change initiatives—like the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative—and the creation of an accessible and safe digital identification system that would help to people who are displaced or migrating because of climate change to retain proof of Kenyan citizenship.

Recommendations for supporting impacted person-led initiatives

Invest in local, national, regional, and global stateless-led initiatives that support climate mitigation and adaptation among stateless and at-risk communities. These include transitions to renewable energy, energy efficiency measures, eco-friendly transportation, regenerative agriculture and land management, climate-resilient infrastructure, fire prevention, flood management, and environmental stewardship projects that benefit stateless and at-risk populations.
Resource the meaningful and equitable participation of stateless-led initiatives in regional and global forums and frameworks addressing human mobility and climate change. Key among these are the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM); the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; and regional migration conferences.
Support statelessness initiatives to strengthen data collection, analysis, and reporting. Statelessness organizations are well placed to improve understanding of the impacts of climate change on stateless populations, climate-induced internal and external displacement and migration, and risks for people who are on the move—including risks for statelessness.
Facilitate private sector partnerships that support stateless-led initiatives. Given diminishing humanitarian and development funding globally, it is critical to leverage private sector resources to support community-based sustainable development and climate resilience.
Amplify stateless-led campaigns for national legal reforms that prevent and remedy statelessness. These reforms include: (1) removing discriminatory and arbitrary legal provisions and policies that contribute to statelessness, (2) granting citizenship to stateless children in the countries in which they are born, (3) preventing the automatic cancellation of citizenship because of extended residence abroad, and (4) enabling the acquisition of dual citizenship.
Support stateless-led advocacy to improve timely access to birth registration for all children, and the creation or strengthening of national digital identification systems to prevent statelessness.
Join stateless-led initiatives in pressing for national laws and policies that provide protection and assistance to people displaced by climate change. These policies should apply to internal and cross-border displacement. Argentina’s Special Humanitarian Visa Program is an example of a national mechanism allowing the entry and temporary or longer-term stay of people displaced by disasters.
Advocate for the inclusion of stateless-led initiatives in the development and implementation of national development, energy security, climate change, and disaster risk reduction and management plans.
Ensure the meaningful participation of statelessness initiatives in multilateral initiatives that respond to the impacts of climate change. Key among these initiatives is the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD).

This page was written by Adam Severson in consultation with grantee partners of the Global Statelessness Fund.

The Global Statelessness Fund is an initiative co-created by stateless people, civil society organizations, and donors. We believe that the most effective responses to statelessness are those led by people with lived experience. The Fund seeks to strengthen the individual and collective action of stateless people and their partners through participatory, flexible, and transformative grantmaking.