Diaspora Contribution to Climate Action - Snapshot

Executive summary

Diaspora communities are increasingly recognized for their contributions to humanitarian assistance. They play an active role in climate change action and intervention, offering immediate disaster response and recovery assistance, as well as supporting investments in green technologies and knowledge transfer.

Across these five case studies, local populations face a range of environmental hazards: droughts, rising sea levels, cyclones, landslides and more. Diaspora responders are uniquely equipped to confront these hazards due to their presence in hard-to-reach areas, close ties and trust within their communities and long-standing relationships that endure past typical institutional project cycles.

Institutional humanitarian actors and organizations can learn from and support diaspora response by soliciting diaspora input in programming, providing technical assistance, standing alongside local organizations to improve their reach and credibility, and supporting access to new funding opportunities.