Predictions of mass movement across borders have dominated public discussion of climate migration.
Field research describes something different and less cinematic.
Most climate-related movement is , short and temporary.
A family moves to a nearby town after a failed and returns when conditions allow.
Crossing a border requires money, documents and a contact, which the poorest households lack.
The most people are therefore the least likely to move far.
, not migration, is the policy problem in most affected regions.
Planned exists and has a poor record almost everywhere it has been tried.
Communities moved inland lose fishing, trading and family networks in a single decision.
Several return to the original site within a few years, houses or no houses.
Programmes that worked moved households in stages and kept the in view throughout.
Legal status is the gap that no country has filled.
Refugee law protects people fleeing and does not cover people fleeing a coastline.
Extending it is politically impossible at present, and regional agreements have moved faster.
Free movement inside a region does more for an affected household than any global declaration.