In this chapter, we review the physical processes that affect the elevation of coastal settlements relative to the sea, and identify current and projected rates of change, describe the impacts of MSLR on coastal settlements and on small island states, provide rough estimates of the number of people exposed, identify options for in situ adaptation, describe common challenges in implementing planned relocations of communities at risk, with case studies from the Carteret Islands and Fiji, and conclude by reviewing the cascading risks faced in Bangladesh.

There still is insufficient appreciation of climate displacement as a contemporary and pressing threat to the lives and livelihoods of people. Coping with climate change critically reviews the link between the human rights system and climate displacement. It examines the imperatives of human rights protection, the role of adopting a human rights-based approach as a coping catalyst, and recent developments in the area of strategic climate change litigation. Drawing on the Peninsula Principles on climate displacement within States, which where elaborated and adopted by a drafting committee of experts and practitioners in 2013, the chapter assesses concrete coping instruments such as planned relocation and National Climate Land Banks.