Reposted by Erica Rose BowerHuman Rights Watch @hrw.org · 14/09/2026On every inhabited continent, communities are being displaced by the climate crisis. But Solomon Islands is among the worst affected. HRW partnered with Solomon Islands communities, NowHere Media, and Agog to create the film “Solwata,” which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. 03015
Reposted by Erica Rose BowerHuman Rights Watch @hrw.org · 15/07/2026📣 Academy Award–nominated actor and human rights advocate @markruffalo.bsky.social has joined forces with HRW, @nowheremedia.bsky.social, and @weareagog.bsky.social to narrate "Solwata," a new documentary spotlighting the human consequences of climate change in the Pacific nation of Solomon Islands. 18844
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 18/08/2025We hope that shining a spotlight on this story will help advance desperately needed solutions for this community and long-lasting policy change on climate-related planned relocation in Senegal and in Multilateral Development Banks globally. Please share widely! 110
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 18/08/2025This report, led by the intrepid Charlotte Finegold, is the product of deep collaboration including with @https://lsdsenegal.org/ colleagues and with community leaders from Khar Yalla. 110
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 18/08/2025Senegal has taken steps to protect climate-displaced people, but more action is needed. Both Senegal and the World Bank should develop rights-respecting policies that provide solutions for climate displaced communities, including through planned relocation as a last resort. 100
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 18/08/2025Nearly a decade later, there is still no durable solution in sight for the families in Khar Yalla. Moreover, authorities left these families out of a World Bank-funded planned relocation of 15,000 other people from their same fishing communities, who were also affected by coastal floods. 100
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 18/08/2025Authorities subsequently moved them to a site called Khar Yalla (“waiting for God” in Wolof), five kilometers from the sea. The living conditions in Khar Yalla are terrible, and the site is cut off from schools, health centers, and the fishing sector, which most families still rely on for income. 100
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 18/08/2025But, as a new HRW report launched today details, some families displaced by floods for the longest have fallen through the cracks. The report tells the story of families who, in 2015 and 2016, lost their homes when coastal floods hit their historic fishing communities in Saint-Louis. 100
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 18/08/2025Since the late 2000s, Senegalese authorities have been using planned relocation in the northern city of Saint-Louis, as one strategy to try and protect people from increasingly severe coastal floods. 100
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 18/08/2025In 2024 alone, 45.5 million people were internally displaced by floods, storms, and other weather-related disasters (IDMC). As such disasters become stronger and more commonplace in a changing climate, solutions for disaster-displaced communities are all the more urgent. 100
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 18/08/2025Thrilled to share a new report launched today: “Waiting for God”: Flood Displacement and Planned Relocation of Fisherfolk in Saint-Louis, Senegal www.hrw.org/report/2025/...hrw.org“Waiting for God”The 72-page report, “‘Waiting for God’: Flood Displacement and Planned Relocation of Fisherfolk in Saint-Louis, Senegal,” concerns families who lost everything when coastal floods hit their historic f... 123
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 17/03/2025Full report: www.hrw.org/report/2025/... Press release: www.hrw.org/news/2025/03... Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF6O... 021
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 17/03/2025Their words are powerful reminders that relocation is not just about moving people—it's about safeguarding rights, dignity, and futures. As more communities face these sobering processes, we need to rethink our frameworks for governance and support to better reflect these visions. 141
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 17/03/2025This report is the product of deep collaboration. Gratitude to colleagues at HRW and Dignity Pasifik. Working alongside community leaders, advocates, and experts, we sought to pass the megaphone and amplify the voices of those experiencing the realities of climate-related planned relocation. 100
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 17/03/2025The IPCC predicts that “as climate risk intensifies, the need for planned relocations will increase.” Every country with a coastline needs to anticipate this challenge, learning from past community-led relocations, like Walande’s, and policies, like the Solomon Islands’ guidelines. 121
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 17/03/2025Without urgent action and increased international support, communities like Walande may need to relocate yet again. But this report is not only a story about Walande. 110
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 17/03/2025The Solomon Islands’ government has taken important steps to support communities facing the most acute impacts of the climate crisis, including by adopting rights-aligned Planned Relocation Guidelines, but they are not yet implemented or adequately funded. 110
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 17/03/2025The report documents why Walande community members made the difficult decision to relocate after decades of adapting to climate change in place, how they moved largely without adequate government and international assistance, and how their right to food and land rights are still threatened. 121
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 17/03/2025Sea level rise and other climate impacts—compounded by insecure land tenure, limited land access & inadequate support—are undermining the rights of the people of Walande in Solomon Islands. Despite taking the last resort measure of leaving their island home, the community is still facing threats. 131
Erica Rose Bower @ericarosebower.bsky.social · 17/03/2025Thrilled to join BlueSky and share a new @hrw.org report just launched today ‘There’s Just No More Land’: Community-led Planned Relocation as Last-resort Adaptation to Sea Level Rise in Solomon Islands www.hrw.org/report/2025/...hrw.org“There’s Just No More Land”The 66-page report, “‘There’s Just No More Land’: Community-led Planned Relocation as Last-resort Adaptation to Sea Level Rise in Solomon Islands,” documents why Walande community members made the dif... 11618
Reposted by Erica Rose BowerHuman Rights Watch @hrw.org · 17/03/2025NEW: Intensifying climate impacts have displaced members of Walande and other coastal communities in Solomon Islands, threatening the enjoyment of their economic, social, and cultural rights. Read more: www.hrw.org/news/2025/03... 16832