The region has a forward-looking policy environment apt at finding pragmatic solutions for recent large scale migration and displacement. 

Regional Free Movement Agreements (FMAs), designed to facilitate economic migration, have served as ‘safety valves’ in situations of disaster. In 2017, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) used their FMAs to enable the rapid relocation of hurricane-displaced populations from Dominica during Hurricane Maria. CARICOM’s recent decision to expand its FMA attests to State’s recognition that their economic fates are intertwined. It could also provide lifesaving and resilience-building climate mobility pathways in the face of future slow and sudden-onset climate hazards.

In 2023, the OECS elevated climate mobility on the regional agenda through the Ministerial Declaration on Migration, Environment and Climate Change. The Declaration emphasizes actions that mitigate the need of vulnerable communities to relocate, while highlighting measures to enhance the benefits of migratory responses.

In 2024, the Cartagena Process considered climate change in updated regional commitments to refugee law. The Chile Declaration and Plan of Action, adopted in December 2024, includes a dedicated chapter (Chapter 3) on actions to address displacement in the context of disasters and the adverse effects of climate change [1]. Most recently, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights issued an Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency and Human Rights, which affirmed the responsibility of states to uphold conditions that enable people to stay in place by mitigating risks, address the underlying drivers of mobility, and take measures to reduce the particular vulnerability of certain groups [2]. The Court also maintains that people moving across borders in the context of climate change could be eligible for protection under existing international law and calls for the development of special migration categories for facilitating safe and dignified movement. 

These promising initiatives serve as stepping stones for regional policy cooperation. What’s missing is a common agenda and framework to plan for climate mobility.