Report on Forced Displacement: UNDP

• 05 Dec 2022

For Prelims: UNDP, Internal Displacement, Climate Change.

For Mains: Report on Forcibly Displacement: UNDP.

Why in News?

According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report “Turning the tide on internal displacement: A development approach to solutions”, for the first time ever, more than 100 million people were forcibly displaced in 2022, most of them within their own countries.

What are the Findings of the Report?

• Statistics:
  • At the end of 2021, there were over 59 million people forcibly displaced within their own countries due to conflict, violence, disasters and climate change.
  • Before the war in Ukraine, 6.5 million people are estimated to have been internally displaced.
  • By 2050, climate change may force more than an estimated 216 million people to move within their own countries.
  • Disaster-related internal displacement is even more widespread, with new displacements recorded in over 130 countries and territories in 2021.
  • Around 30% of professional lives became unemployed and 24% were not able to earn money the same way as before. 48% of the internally displaced households earned less money than before displacement.
• Impact:
  • The internally displaced persons struggle to cover their basic needs, find decent work or have a stable source of income.
    • Female and youth-headed households are more impacted.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa and parts of the Americas are the mostly affected regions from forced displacement.
  • The direct impact of internal displacement globally is estimated at over USD 21.5 billion in 2021 in the form of the financial cost of providing every internally displaced person with housing, education, health and security, and accounts.
  • Lack of Proper and Commonly Accepted Statistics about displacement has led to a lack of policies for displaced people.
• Suggestions:
  • Longer-term development action is needed to reverse record levels of internal displacement, with millions more people predicted to be uprooted by climate change.
  • Humanitarian aid alone cannot overcome record levels of internal displacement globally. There is a need to devise new ways to address the consequences of internal displacement through a development approach.
  • Five key pathways to development solutions can be adopted, which are,
    • Strengthening governance institutions
    • Boosting socio-economic integration through access to jobs and services
    • Restoring security
    • Enhancing participation
    • Building social cohesion

What is United Nations Development Program?

• The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN's global development network.
• UNDP is based on the merging of the United Nations Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance and the United Nations Special Fund.
• The UNDP was established in 1965 by the United Nations General Assembly, and became operational in January 1966.
• It provides expert advice, training and grants support to developing countries, with increasing emphasis on assistance to the least developed countries.
• The UNDP Executive Board is made up of representatives from 36 countries around the world who serve on a rotating basis.
• It is funded entirely by voluntary contributions from member nations.
• UNDP is central to the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG), a network that spans 165 countries and unites the 40 UN funds, programmes, specialized agencies and other bodies working to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• UNDP Publication: Human Development Index.

UPSC Civil Services Examination Previous Year Question (PYQ)

Q. Rehabilitation of human settlements is one of the important environmental impacts which always attracts controversy while planning major projects. Discuss the measures suggested for mitigation of this impact while proposing major developmental projects. (2016)

Source: DTE