Vladimir Carrasco arrived at COP30 in Brazil with a clear mission: to amplify the voices of those forced from their homes by extreme weather. As the Director of Climate Justice for CHIRLA, he's witnessed firsthand how climate change drives families abroad to seek refuge. But he left disappointed, noting very little conversation about immigrants and their struggles.

In the last ten years alone, about 250 million people have had to find new homes within their own countries due to weather-related disasters, a figure that doesn't even include those who crossed international borders. This includes farmers in Central America pushed to cities by droughts and families from Tuvalu already relocating to Australia, as scientists predict their islands will be mostly underwater by 2100. This stark reality comes from a recent UN report.

Despite the undeniable link between climate change and migration, global climate talks have largely sidelined the issue. Jocelyn Perry, a senior advocate with Refugees International, suggests that rising xenophobia might be a reason negotiators avoid discussing migrants. Instead, world leaders often prioritize emission reductions and adaptation funding, neglecting the human face of climate displacement. The anti-migrant sentiment is a global trend, seen in policies from the US to the UK and South Africa.

This isn't a new problem. A moment of hope in 2015, when a proposal for a climate change displacement coordination facility was debated before COP21, was ultimately stripped from the final text. Andrea C. Simonelli of the Environment and Climate Mobilities Network shared these early drafts, lamenting the missed opportunity. While the Paris Agreement did acknowledge migrants, and a Working Group on Displacement was formed, concrete support remains scarce.

Advocates like Perry and Carrasco are pushing hard for change. They seek to ensure that community groups, not just governments, can access resources from the UN's climate reparations fund, created in 2022. These funds are meant to flow from wealthier nations, historically responsible for fossil fuel emissions, to lower-income countries bearing the brunt of the crisis. At COP30, their efforts led to explicit mentions of migrants and displaced communities in some key documents, acknowledging their significant losses and the need for their inclusion in solutions.

Protecting the right to stay home is also a crucial part of climate mobility. As Kamal Amakrane, Director General of the Global Centre for Climate Mobility, emphasizes, people generally don't want to leave their homes. Local solutions, often far less costly than international grand schemes, could help communities adapt. For instance, Laura Serena Mosquera, a climate mobility fellow at the Global Centre for Climate Mobility, is conducting research on how a Colombian city can understand and prevent displacement within its unique patterns.

The urgency of this crisis cannot be overstated. We need immediate climate intervention and real solutions. Polluting industries must keep fossil fuels in the ground to prevent a catastrophic future. As Carrasco states, "While COP30 delegates inch along with mediocre agreements, climate justice is not optional for communities living through disasters."