COPRRRA is a national community of practice bringing together frontline communities, advocates, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to collectively learn, share, and shape dignified and effective approaches to relocation and retreat in Australia.
There is an urgent need for strategies to manage growing displacement risk and pressures in Australia. Repeated or permanent displacement threatens social cohesion, resilience, and wellbeing, while also undermining livelihoods, health, culture, and security. These risks highlight the urgent need for clear policy frameworks, resources, tools, and relationships to guide dignified relocation and retreat in the face of increasing systemic climate risk, ensuring that movements strengthen resilience and protect communities.
COPRRRA recognises that relocation is more than a technical or physical intervention – it is a deeply social, place based, and values driven process touching on identity, culture, vulnerability, and justice. COPRRRA offers a space to learn together, shape practice, and influence how relocation occurs across Australia.
The purpose of COPRRRA is to:
- Exchange knowledge, expertise and experiences,
- Strengthen collective capacity to engage in or implement relocation and retreat related activities,
- Ensure relocation is safe, dignified, and community-led.
The initiative is supported through an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA).