Climate impacts in the Asia-Pacific region are triggering increased population movements, hindering progress toward sustainable cities.

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on cities, SDG 11, includes targets for access and affordability of housing and transport, safeguarding cultural and natural heritage, and reducing disaster mortality, among others. Governments meet in July every year at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) to review progress. This year, a special review of progress on SDG 11 showed that, in countries’ own national reporting, disasters have become the most-referenced theme across regions and income groups.

Between 2015 and 2024, disasters affected 123 million people each year. Some progress has been made: disaster mortality has declined since the SDGs were adopted, a testament to the work done so far to improve early warning and emergency response capabilities. However, disaster impacts remain high.

Organizations that monitor population movements and the impacts of climate change are finding that extreme weather, heatwaves, wildfires and tropical cyclones have increased in frequency and intensity, with knock-on effects of reduced harvests and rising food prices. Population displacement is both an outcome and a contributor to these dynamics. Overall, the Asia Pacific is the world’s most disaster-prone region and experiences more population displacement than any other part of the world.

In Mongolia, unusually severe winters have resulted in many traditional herders giving up their livelihoods to resettle in urban areas. In Kiribati, a low-lying atoll nation, some communities have been displaced multiple times by sea-level rise, moving closer into the capital, Tarawa, where they face overcrowding. In some rural districts of Pakistan, lack of water for irrigation and daily needs has pushed people to move in the search for arable land and livelihood opportunities. Climate impacts on human mobility are varied, but the outcomes tend to be similar: increased pressure on urban centers, and resulting challenges of housing, livelihoods, service provision, and environmental quality.

This year’s SDG 11 review also showed that governments increasingly are planning for cities’ resilience and sustainability, but financing and technical capacity are still needed at the local level. Governments and those who support them need to do four things.

First, they should recognize that climate mobility is already happening. Many governments have not yet done so, because recognition comes with an obligation to act, and an ensuing price tag. Pacific Island countries adopted the Pacific Regional Framework on Climate Mobility in 2023, which provides a policy framework for managing human mobility in relation to climate impacts. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also recognizes climate mobility in some of its policies. These frameworks now need to translate into national policies that enable action on the ground.

Second, governments must invest in prevention. This is cheaper than paying for disaster relief after the event. New types of financial instruments are one way for this to happen. The Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing market for parametric insurance, which offers coverage based on predefined triggers, such as rainfall levels or temperature, rather than going through a lengthy process of loss assessment — so funds can be available for disaster preparedness and rapid response after a disaster. In Fiji, a parametric insurance payout from the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company enabled fast action for livelihood support and reef clean-up after Tropical Cyclone Rae struck in February 2025. Nature-based solutions are another approach to prevention: for example, restoring areas of mangrove will not only benefit biodiversity and ecosystems, but also provides protection against storms and flash floods.

Third, local governments, local organizations, and local communities should lead the way, and should be resourced at a sufficient level. New institutional arrangements can integrate capacity that is built during a crisis. Rather than dismantling offices set up to administer emergency relief once the disaster response is over, some governments are choosing to integrate those arrangements into their permanent structures, recognizing that they will need capacity to respond to the next disaster. Participatory approaches at the local level also help ensure that funds available can be directed to where they can do most good.

Fourth, the economic, social and cultural impacts of climate mobility must be addressed. This implies a whole range of actions. Recognizing that people in small island development States (SIDS) must move to find work, for example, could mean also preparing them for risks and challenges they may face in a new country, understand their labor rights, and help them guard against scam operators. Maintaining cultural heritage, when people of working age may spend most of their adult lives away from their countries of origin, could mean using digital technologies to transmit cultural knowledge and promote connection.

Approaches that ally with Nature rather than fighting it, and that support people most at risk from climate impacts, are already happening. Some organizations are finding ways to link climate mobility monitoring with rapid response. For example, the International Organization for Migration, a UN agency, has developed a Risk Index for Climate Displacement, which identifies hotspots where populations are most at risk of displacement; these hotspots are then prioritized to receive small, match-funded investments for projects to strengthen local resilience. The challenge now is to scale up their application by fully acknowledging how climate change is influencing human mobility. Such approaches will go a long way toward enabling resilient and sustainable cities.

Delia Paul is an associate of the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the author of a new report on climate mobility in the Asia-Pacific region.