Climate-induced displacement is one of the defining justice issues of our time. At Earth Refuge, our work responds to this reality through three interconnected pillars: Public Legal Education, Research, and Arts & Culture.
Across each area, we centre lived experience, community collaboration, and accessible knowledge-sharing. We believe meaningful responses to the climate crisis emerge when affected communities are not positioned as subjects of study, but as architects of knowledge and change.
01 — Public Legal Education
As climate displacement accelerates globally, accessible legal information is becoming increasingly essential — for practitioners and non-practitioners alike.
Our public legal education work seeks to make this growing and often highly technical field more understandable, usable, and grounded in lived experience. We do this through accessible resources, strategic convenings, and community-centred workshops that bring together legal experts, advocates, organisers, researchers, artists, and directly impacted communities.
In October 2025, Earth Refuge co-hosted the conference International Protection in the Context of the Climate Crisis, convening legal practitioners, academics, policymakers, and civil society actors to explore pathways for rights-based protection in the context of climate mobility.
Coming soon — Climate Mobility & Legal Innovation Programme
Alongside our partners at the Beyond Climate Collaborative, we are launching the Climate Mobility & Legal Innovation Programme (CLIP). The programme brings together lawyers and frontline practitioners to explore innovative, community-centred legal responses to climate mobility in a rapidly evolving landscape.
We also facilitate tailored workshops and educational sessions. To request a workshop, contact [email protected].
02 — Research
Our research underpins much of Earth Refuge’s wider work. We believe rigorous, community-informed research is essential to advancing legal protections and strengthening public understanding of climate-induced displacement.
A core initiative is our contribution to the open-source Climate Mobility Case Database, supporting civil society and practitioners in building this evolving field of law.
We are also developing legal toolkits mapping the full lifecycle of climate displacement cases — from client intake and evidence gathering to rights-based legal strategy and enforcement pathways.
Alongside this, we engage in field research with frontline communities. One ongoing focus is our work with residents in Hemsby on the Norfolk coast, where coastal erosion is actively reshaping homes, livelihoods, and belonging.
Read more:
Hemsby’s Coastline on the Edge
Hemsby on the Frontline — What’s Changed Since Our Last Update?
03 — Arts & Culture
We strongly believe that arts and culture can make conversations around existential issues more accessible, participatory, and emotionally resonant.
In 2025, Earth Refuge co-produced Our Shared Futures, the UK’s first climate and migration community film festival, with over 300 screenings nationwide.
The festival created spaces where climate displacement could be felt, discussed, and reimagined through storytelling and shared experience — shifting not just awareness, but the quality of conversation itself.
Reflections from the festival:
Reflections from a Community Screening
Films Don’t Change the World, But They Can Change the Quality of Our Conversations
Through legal education, research, and cultural engagement, Earth Refuge works to shape responses to climate displacement that are informed, just, rights-centred, and community-led.