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Pacific governments have launched the world’s first regional framework for planned climate relocation, creating new guidance for communities facing displacement from rising seas, coastal erosion, and intensifying storms.
In March 2026, Pacific governments launched new regional guidance on climate-related planned relocation, the Pacific Regional Guidance on Planned Relocation (PAC-GIPR), to help governments and communities manage displacement while protecting human rights, cultural identity, and local decision-making. The guidance builds on the Pacific Regional Framework on Climate Mobility (PRFCM), endorsed by Pacific leaders in 2023, and its Implementation Plan 2025-2030, adopted in August 2025 to support practical action on climate mobility across the region. According to Human Rights Watch, the guidance recognizes planned relocation as a measure of last resort when communities can no longer safely adapt to climate impacts where they live, while emphasizing community participation, Indigenous rights and cultural preservation throughout the relocation process.
Unlike emergency evacuations following disasters, planned relocation involves the long-term movement of communities from areas that are expected to become increasingly unsafe due to climate change.
