Environmental and Disaster Displacement Policy

This book explores the involvement of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the issue area of environmental and disaster displacement. By considering both agencies’ historical involvements, their responses to Typhoon Haiyan, and first-hand accounts from both agency staff and other experts, this book outlines how inter-agency involvement in the issue area has been categorised by divisions of agency structures and mandates, activities, and even personalities. While historically inherited differences exist, environmental and disaster displacement has led to a converging of agency roles and amplified tensions, at a time when cooperation is critical.

Silvana Lakeman is an editor for an academic journal. She previously worked as a Marie Curie Doctoral Fellow at the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences, Germany.