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Resource
Glossary
Common words and phrases in development and disaster risk reduction
C
climate refugee
Often used by the media to describe a person displaced in the context of disasters like droughts and sea level rise as well as extreme weather events like hurricanes, tsunamis or earthquakes. This concept does not yet exist in international law and so is not used by GNDR.
D
disaster displacement
Refers to situations where people are forced to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, as a result of disaster or in order to avoid the impact of an immediate and foreseeable natural hazard. Such displacement results from the fact that affected persons are (i) exposed to (ii) a natural hazard in a situation where (iii) they are too vulnerable and lack the resilience to withstand the impacts of that hazard.
F
forced displacement
Leaving, or being obliged to flee one’s home or place of habitual residence, forcibly or because of obligation, in particular as a result of, or in order to, avoid the effects of conflict, violence, violation of rights or hazard-induced or human-made disasters.
H
human mobility
A term that includes forced displacement, voluntary migration and planned relocation that occurs in response to hazards and environmental degradation, or in anticipation of them.
I
internal displacement
Having been forcibly displaced but have not crossed an international border.
M
migration
The choice to move to seek new opportunities. These are predominantly economic but do not have to be. For example, avoid recurrent low-intensity hazards and moving as part of a planned relocation to a safer, less exposed place in a voluntary manner.
migration as adaptation
Movements that people make to build their resilience and ability to adapt to slow-onset hazards and environmental change.
P
protracted displacement
The inability of displaced people who are unable to re-establish their lives and livelihoods for an extended period of time, which usually increases suffering.
R
refugee
A displaced person who has crossed national borders/boundaries and who cannot, or is unwilling to, return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.