IOM Welcomes New Regional Thematic Specialists
on Migration, Environment and Climate Change
To bring environmental migration at the heart of regional and national concerns, IOM welcomes three new Regional Thematic Specialists on Migration, Environment and Climate Change (MECC) in the Regional Offices of Dakar, Nairobi and San José. Ms. Hind Aissaoui Bennani, RO Dakar (front row, middle), Ms. Lisa Lim Ah Ken, RO Nairobi (front row, far left) and Mr. Pablo Escribano, RO San José (third Row, far right) were in Geneva, along with Ms. Sabira Coelho.RO Bangkok (second row, second from left) and Ms. Nina Stuurmann, RO Cairo(third row, far left), for a week-long workshop organized by the MECC Division at Headquarters at the end of September.
The workshop provided an opportunity to discuss IOM’s work to date on the migration-environment nexus as well as the interlinkages across various areas of migration management, and to develop regional strategies on migration and environment with the new Specialists. The Regional Thematic Specialists will oversee, support and coordinate the development of activities and engage in policy work and advocacy with a migration, environment, and climate change dimension in their respective regions.
IPCC 1.5°C Report: the Implications for Policy and Climate Action
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C this October. This landmark report was commissioned following the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015 to assess the feasibility of the targets outlined in the agreement, and will be presented to governments at the next Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC that will be held in Poland in December (COP24).
The report presents the projected risks posed by climate change for natural and human systems, and demonstrates that these risks would be significantly lower at 1.5°C warming compared to 2°C. It shows that limiting global warming to 1.5°C is still possible, but requires urgent action, which is currently seriously undermined by limited political will, cooperation and governance challenges. The IPCC report also touches upon the effects of climate change on displacement and migration, and examines migration among adaptation options.
IOM contributed to a panel discussing the impacts of climate change on human mobility at the Climate Science and Humanitarian Dialogue, organized by Switzerland, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Fiji (COP23 Presidency), the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the IPCC and the Climate Action Network (CAN) at the UN in Geneva. The Dialogue was organized as part of a series of events leading to COP24 and at the occasion of the IPCC 1.5°C Report release.
A Story of Hope: Climate Action to Restore Livelihoods in Agadez
Elhadji, aged 49, is one of the 30 Nigerien beneficiaries of IOM’s community stabilization project launched in Agadez, Niger. The beneficiaries are either returnees from Libya, youth at risk or ex-smugglers. Elhadji represents the latter. Back in 2012, Elhadji joined the smuggling business, as he didn’t have a stable income. Once smuggling of migrants started being criminalized in Niger and as a father of two girls, aged two and 14, he thought it would be best to find a legal way of providing for his family. But finding an alternative proved harder than he had thought and he couldn’t find a stable job opportunity.
Niger is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate change. It particularly struggles with severe drought, which impacts both agricultural production and herder livelihoods. To address this as well as radicalization, IOM together with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), started a project focusing on migrant reintegration and countering radicalization through the creation of jobs related to the restoration of degraded lands and their productive base.
The project aims to build the resilience of farmer and herder communities vulnerable to climate change, restore land resilience, avoid displacement due to climate change and combat extremism by offering green employment alternatives. Elhadji and the other beneficiaries have each received one hectare of land that they will use for income-generating activities.
Reintegration through Environment Action in Ethiopia
IOM has entered into an agreement with Penda Manufacturing PLC, a paper recycling company in Addis Ababa, to provide economic reintegration to 25 Ethiopian women returning from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The majority of returnees from KSA come back to Ethiopia empty-handed and in great need of support to successfully reintegrate back into their communities of origin.
Penda Manufacturing PLC was established in 2014 and has since worked to reduce waste paper in Addis Ababa through engaging micro-enterprise collectors working in the city and by targeting over 200 schools in Addis Ababa where students are encouraged to collect paper for recycling. The company has partnered with IOM on two fronts, aiming to reduce paper waste at the IOM office and to employ 25 vulnerable female Ethiopians returning from KSA. The returnees will now be part of Penda Manufacturing’s latest initiative, namely, mobile paper waste deposit sites where members of the community can deposit waste paper and earn ETB 2 per deposited kilo. IOM hopes to be able to forge innovative partnerships with additional private sector actors in the ‘green’ sector so as to create synergies between environmental protection and sustainable reintegration of vulnerable returnees in Ethiopia.
IOM is working on similar initiatives in the West African region. For more information on IOM’s projects on migration, environment and climate change, please refer to the Environmental Migration Portal.
Climate Migration in Mongolia: IOM is Helping the Government Prepare
To help herder communities prepare for cases of forced migration during the country’s bitterly cold winter, IOM organized an emergency preparedness simulation exercise in Bulgan and Sukhbaatar aimags (provinces)with Mongolia’s National Emergency Management Agency.
The Mongolian simulation was a whole-of-community exercise. It involved some 17,000 members of the public, local government officials, Emergency Commission staff, service providers, Mercy Corps and the Red Cross. Its was designed to improve the government’s provision of shelter, water, food, fodder and other necessities to rural households to minimize forced migration during the country’s upcoming winter.
First Chilean Summit of Local Authorities on Climate Change
25-27 October 2018. Rapa Nui, Chile
Local authorities from all over Chile gathered in Rapa Nui, to discuss mitigation and adaptation initiatives to counter climate change. The location of the Summit was strategically chosen, as Rapa Nui is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites most threatened by rising sea level. According to a UNESCO study, “the primary impacts of climate change on Rapa Nui are projected to be water shortages due to reduced summer rainfall, sea-level rise, coastal inundation and erosion”, which have the potential to impact human mobility.
The Summit enabled local authorities to discuss their role in climate change mitigation and adaptation. IOM delivered a presentation on the migration, environment and climate change nexus and highlighted the important role that local authorities are called to play in addressing the environmental drivers of forced migration and assisting environmental migrants in need. Following the event, IOM will continue conversations with local authorities, in parallel to a national advocacy efforts to integrate migration in climate change strategies.
III Ibero-American Forum on Migration and Development
22-24 October 2018. Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala
The III Ibero-American Forum on Migration and Development took place this month under the title “Migration and development in the 21st century: a transformative Ibero-American agenda”. The Forum, organized by the Guatemalan Government, following Ecuador (2008) and El Salvador (2010), gathered representatives of governments, academia, civil society, and international organizations to discuss inputs for the XXVI Ibero-American Summit of Heads of States taking place in November 2018.
One of the Forum Working Groups specifically addressed the environmental drivers of forced migration, including disasters and the adverse impacts of climate change. Under the coordination of the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) and IOM, discussions enabled the identification of recommendations to be suggested to Heads of State on this issue. The recommendations are expected to highlight the importance of mitigating the drivers of forced environment migration, protecting environmental migrants and ensuring coherence between different policy areas.
The first Africa-Arab Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) was co-organized by the Government of Tunisia and UNISDR in collaboration with the African Union Commission and the League of Arab States. Its main objective was to take stock of progress made in the implementation of the Sendai Framework and to reaffirm political commitment to achieving its implementation in the region.
The connections between disasters and migration were also discussed during the Platform and were highlighted in the Final Declaration. The session on DRR in a Fragile and Conflict Context highlighted current threats of droughts and cyclones in the Arab and African region and their linkages with conflict. Good practices on how to address such challenges were also discussed. Based on its expertise in transition and recovery work, IOM’s intervention highlighted that DRR interventions should be designed, implemented and evaluated based on the principles of conflict sensitivity, context analysis, while ensuring an adaptive and flexible approach. Developing effective relationships at the community level is also key for IOM. If actors can implement DRR activities through the community mobilization and capacity building approach, the DRR knowledge accumulated by communities can be brought and adapted in other areas when people are forced to move.
The role of women and migrants in successful DRR interventions was also highlighted. Empowering women has led to environmental and social gains, reinforcing the need to empower local leadership in the absence of state leadership. IDPs, refugees and other migrants should equally be valued as positive contributors and included in DRR design and response.
Water Scarcity in Middle East and North Africa (MENA):
FAO and IOM Work in Partnership
23 October 2018. Cairo, Egypt
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and IOM highlighted the issue of water scarcity during IOM MENA’s new partnership meeting series. The meeting was attended by over 65 representatives of different embassies and agencies in Cairo.
The links between climate change and migration at regional level are very evident in Egypt. The MENA region is mostly dry by nature because of its geographical location and climate conditions. Combining this with limited water resources due to low annual precipitation and decreasing ground water levels, and the ever-increasing population, the MENA region is facing great challenges. Desertification, water shortage and sea level rise due to climate change are of particular concern. Projections show that one-meter sea level rise in the Nile delta could affect 6 million people, mostly poorer communities settling in the Nile delta basin. Climate change also adds to the already mounting risks of migrants living in informal settlements making them more vulnerable than those living in formal areas.
Based on their recent publication, FAO explained that while five percent of the world’s population lives in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region, the region only possesses about one percent of the world’s total renewable freshwater resources. According to the most recent regional assessment for predicting the future change in temperature and rainfall due to climate change, Sudan, Mauritania, Libya and Yemen will be climate change hot spots and among the most affected.
Both water scarcity and food security are drivers of migration, especially within the region. Based on the global cooperation agreement (MoU), FAO and IOM will continue to look at coordinated policy efforts within the region to address the agriculture and climate migration nexus.
Latin America Regional NAP Expo and
NAP Global Support Programme Workshop 22-23 October 2018. Panama City, Panama
The Regional Expo on National Adaptation Plans for Latin America took place this October and focused on different aspects of adaptation. Following the Expo, a workshop aimed at developing the capacities of national planning entities on climate change adaptation was organized as part of the NAP Global Support Programme. A session focused specifically on the topic of innovation in Climate Change Adaptation Plans. Here, IOM presented the benefits of integrating human mobility in adaptation strategies. The event enabled the start of a discussion with Latin American national planning entities on the challenges they face to operationalize migration components in national adaptation strategies.
