Environmental factors play an important role in increasing human vulnerability and driving migration and displacement. IOM is dedicated to supporting Latin American countries in their efforts to mitigate the risks of environmental and climate related stressors. In Argentina, attention was placed on capacity-building for disaster risk management in line with IOM’s strategy on migration, environment and climate change during 2017. In Peru, IOM joined the UN Evaluation and Disaster Coordination (UNDAC) team, in supporting of the Government of Peru, to assess the emergency caused by heavy rains, and mud- and landslides in several regions of the country in January of 2017. IOM deployed emergency staff in response to forest fires that have been affecting the central zone of Chile since mid-January, as part of the UN Evaluation and Disaster Coordination (UNDAC) team. In Bolivia, IOM also worked to raise awareness on migration and environmental practices and the relationship between migration and climate change. In this line, it was important to promote environmentally sound development in the country. IOM supported the Peruvian national government in including migration in national adaptation strategies on climate change. IOM provided special strengthening support to national stakeholders in El Salvador on the generation of information and evidence on human mobility and the displacement of vulnerable populations due to the effects of climate change.

IOM plays an increasingly important role in Disaster Risk Management and Humanitarian Coordinated Response to displacement induced by natural disasters as global cluster lead for Camp Coordination and Camp.
IOM in the Americas has been working on 1)Developing models and in data collection on the cost and benefits of migration including displacement in partnership with IDMC. 2) Learning lessons from program implementation to develop evidence based policies for policy-makers. 3)Different advocacy exercises, including through the UN, to develop Mobility Related Indicators for the Implementation of the UN ACTION PLAN on Disaster Risk Reduction.

IOM's Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) intervention in Colombia is comprehensive and includes projects that address all phases of the migration management cycle, from the reduction of migratory pressures on vulnerable populations to the long-term stabilization of communities displaced and otherwise affected by disasters.
In order to support the capacities of the Colombian Government and civil society, IOM led several shelter coordination and management projects, training local authorities on the provision and management of temporary shelters, and distributed hygiene and sleeping kits to vulnerable families. IOM aimed at enhancing local and institutional preparedness, as well as directly managing the IOM has been working jointly with the National Ministry of Education on community stabilization through the improvement, reconstruction, relocation, rehabilitation and equipping of educational infrastructure in border regions, isolated areas or municipalities affected by natural disasters and conflict. These initiatives seek to reduce risk in some of the most vulnerable communities in the country.situation of populations displaced by the floods.

In addition, in 2012, the Organization led the shelter coordination and management project for the assistance program implemented jointly with the UN System and the Colombian Government.
IOM also supports the Colombian Government in the coordination and management of temporary shelters built to assist victims of the La Niña Phenomenon of 2010–2011. More info: https://www.iom.int/files/live/sites/iom/files/What-We-Do/docs/IOM-DRR-Compendium-2013-America.pdf

In Haiti, with teams of agricultural technicians and community members, IOM has supported the
construction of 81,000 meters of gabions and stone walls; the excavation of 90,000 meters of
micro-basins; and planted over 800,000 trees in the watersheds of Gonaives, Saint Marc and
Petit-Goave. The massive cultivation of trees and deep rooted grass species help to reinforce
barriers, trap water, and strengthen the soil.

Two days after the January 12th, 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti, the IOM, with the
United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), the Government of Haiti, and some
170 partner agencies, responded to the crisis by delivering some two million NFI to 200,000
families. IOM also coordinated and distributed 8,110 shelters for displaced population. Early
recovery efforts by IOM included rubble removal, rehabilitation of urban infrastructure including
health facilities to support those families that could return to their homes.

In 2010, with funding from the United Nation's Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), IOM
supported and coordinated shelter and non-food items (NFI) delivery to 24,000 families in
Guatemala affected by tropical storm Agatha. The Organization also assisted the Government of
Chile in delivering 1,407 temporary shelters and shelter and hygiene kits to the victims of the
earthquake that hit the central and southern parts of the country. In Colombia, IOM provided
flood shelter to some 1,100 families and NFI to 5,500 persons affected by heavy rain and
flooding in the Pacific coastal region of the country.