11 October 2017: The UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Displacement Solutions, an organization working on rights-based land solutions to climate displacement, outlining a framework for collaboration on climate resilience. In related news, following reports of unprecedented devastation caused by a series of hurricanes in the Caribbean, Dominica announced that it intends to become the first climate-resilient nation in the world.

During his visit to Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda to survey the hurricane damage, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for the full mobilization of the international community to support the people of the affected areas, and highlighted the need to accelerate climate action, making it “our top priority.”

Guterres described climate change as “one of the central causes of forced displacement in the world.” He commended the Government of Dominica for its vision to become the world’s first “green climate-resilient nation.” [UN News Story on UN Secretary-General’s Visit to the Caribbean] [UN SDG Press Release on UN Secretary-General’s Visit to the Caribbean] [UN News Story on Dominica] [UN SDG Press Release on Dominica] [UN Secretary-General’s Remarks at Press Conference in Antigua and Barbuda] [UN Secretary-General’s Remarks at Press Conference in Dominica]

The MoU between UN-Habitat and Displacement Solutions outlines a framework for global, regional, national and city-level collaboration on minimizing the impacts of climate change and increasing resilience of human settlements at risk. The collaboration is anticipated to lead to new urban development paradigms for “predictive planning” in cities and towns affected by sea level rise and coastal erosion.

The partnership builds on UN Habitat’s City Resilience Profiling Programme (CRPP) methodology and relies on Displacement Solutions’ ‘Peninsula Principles’ and Climate Displacement Land Initiative. The collaboration will seek to: increase awareness of options and solutions to access, service and commission land for displaced populations; integrate research leading to best practice and up-scaling; and increase cities’ and towns’ resilience to the impacts of climate change and other risks through their participation in joint programming. [UN-Habitat Press Release]

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