As COP23 starts on Monday, 6 November 2017 in Bonn, Germany, it is important to continue bringing awareness of the migration implications of climate change, one of the most tangible social consequences of the changing climate. The Fiji presidency of COP23 highlights the plight of small island developing States that are threatened by rising sea levels and more frequent and intense extreme weather events. In many of these islands, populations have no other choice than to migrate further inland to cope with the rising seas, and the relocation of populations is also becoming more frequent. Throughout the world, millions of people each year migrate to escape the ravages of land degradation or are displaced due to storms and hurricanes.
Two years after the landmark COP21 Paris Agreement that called for States to protect the rights of migrants and mandated the creation of the Task Force on Displacement, COP23 represents the opportunity to take stock of the progress accomplished at the policy and programmatic levels to respond to the complex issue of climate migration. Over 15 events dedicated to climate migration and displacement will take place during the two-week negotiations. IOM co-organizes six of these events (see UNFCCC COP23 Side Events section below).
In particular, the One UN Event entitled “Climate-related Human Mobility: Connecting the Dots to Implement the Paris Agreement”, co-organized by IOM and UNHCR in partnership with nine other UN agencies, will aim at providing recommendations to the Task Force on Displacement from a variety of thematic angles: adaptation, human rights, development, protection, gender, land degradation and agriculture. The multiplicity of analysis grids that can be applied to the climate and migration nexus demonstrate that this topic is of relevance to decision makers across all policy areas.
Join us at COP23 on 8 November 2017 at the side event!
IOM will also contribute to two One UN Exhibitions during COP23: Exhibition on Decent Work and Green Growth and Exhibition on Sustainable Cities and Communities.
2nd Meeting of the Advisory Committee of the Platform on Disaster Displacement
23-24 October 2017
Bogis-Bossey, Switzerland
The Platform on Disaster Displacementconvened the second meeting of its Advisory Committee on 23-24 October 2017 in Bogis-Bossey, Switzerland. The event gathered more than 90 participants representing international and regional organizations, research institutions, the academic sector, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other civil society stakeholders from all over the world, who play a key role in supporting the implementation of the Platform’s work through their expert advice and activities on the ground.
This meeting provided an opportunity for the members of the Advisory Committee to take stock of the progress made in the first year of the Platform’s work, share information about their ongoing activities, and exchange on future opportunities for partnerships in their respective regions. Given their key role in the implementation of the Platform’s workplan, IOM and UNHCR also updated the Advisory Committee on their work since the launch of the Platform in July 2016.
The workshop addressed highly topical areas of work, such as the current work undertaken by the UNFCCC WIM Excom Task Force on Displacement, efforts to integrate disaster and climate change related considerations in the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees, ongoing joint work on developing guidelines to support the integration of displacement and mobility into disaster risk reduction strategies, and efforts to strengthen data collection and research on cross-border disaster displacement and human mobility in the context of climate change.
The recommendations formulated by the Advisory Committee were presented to the Steering Group of the Platform on Disaster Displacement and will help to inform the work of the Platform in the coming months.
Launch of the project "Understanding and Managing Internal Migration in Mongolia"
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
11-12 October 2017
IOM Mongolia hosted the inception workshop and the first project steering committee meeting under the project “Understanding and Managing Internal Migration in Mongolia” in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from 11 to 12 October 2017. The project is supported by the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), and will be implemented for 18 months.
Mongolia already experiences dramatic rural to urban migration as a result of several development factors, some of which are linked to climate change, such as declining livelihood opportunities in rural areas amplified by drought and dzuds. Rural migrants generally settle in Ger districts on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar. The rapid growth of the population in these areas has outpaced the government’s ability to provide basic services such as running water, sanitation, and sewage, healthcare and education. Limited data on migration trends and drivers of migration contribute to the lack of evidence-based policies and programmes and constrain government capacity to effectively manage migration and support migrants in informal settlements. This project aims to support the Government of Mongolia in improving the management of internal migration through an assessment of key push and pull factors of migration, including an analysis of environmental drivers. The project will also enhance the capacity of government agencies and relevant stakeholders, and support policy dialogue and awareness raising initiatives.
These two initial meetings brought together government officials from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and the Ulaanbaatar Municipality as well as project partners – the National University of Mongolia (NUM), Ger Community Mapping Center (GCMC) and SDC – to introduce the project, discuss the work plan and clarify the role of each of the partner organizations and collaboration structures in the long term. Next steps include defining the research methodology and implementing data collection.
Impacts World 2017:
Climate Change and Human Migration
Potsdam, Germany
12 October 2017
Key findings and evidence from the MECLEP global research projectwere presented at the second Impacts World 2017 conference on climate change. The conference was organized by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts Research (PIK).
Susanne Melde, Senior Analyst at IOM´s Global Migration Data Analyst Centre, spoke at the panel on climate change and human migration, where she presented MECLEP´s comparative approach and its policy implications. Representatives on the panel from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Institute for Environmental Economics and World Trade at Leibniz University and the European Commission provided new evidence from Southeast Asia, the latest science on climate change impacts on health and migration, and discussed the opportunities presented by the two global compacts for migrants and on refugees and the Task Force on Displacement under the UNFCCC. The panelists also discussed policy implications of their work and opportunities for partnerships.
Impacts World is a leading international conference covering the diversity and depth of climate-impacts research today. The conference brought together 450 participants from 68 countries of various scientific backgrounds. The three-day conference comprised of plenary sessions, workshops, and an interactive poster session, giving the opportunity to the participants and the audience to interact.
Climate fragility risks in the Asia-Pacific Region
6 November 2017 | 17h00 to 18h00 | Japanese Pavilion
National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Japan
The adverse effects of climate change on human mobility: Opportunities for averting, minimizing and addressing displacement
7 November 2017 | 10h30 to 11h15 | German Pavilion
Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) and BMZ
Addressing climate-induced displacement/migration and non-economic L&D in the Asia–Pacific region 7 November 2017 | 16h45 to 18h15 | Meeting Room 11
ActionAid International, Bread for the World, CEN, WCC, CANSA
Climate-related human mobility: Connecting the dots to implement the Paris Agreement
8 November 2017 | 13h15 to 14h45 | Meeting Room 12
IOM and UNHCR
Just transition for all and a human right based approach to climate action
8 November 2017 | 13h15 to 14h45 | Meeting Room 7
ILO with OHCHR, IOM, UNESCO, WHO, WFP, UN WOMEN
Displacement, human mobility and climate change 8 November 2017 | 11h30 to 13h00 | Meeting Room 7
NRC, COAST, OXFAM
Displacements induced by El Niño: a public health issue
8 November 2017 | 11h30 to 13h00 | Meeting Room 4
Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (USPC) and University of Geneva
Limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C: Implications on food security, displacement and migration 9 November 2017 | 18h30 to 20h00 | Meeting Room 7
ActionAid International, Bread for the World, CANSA, CEN, WCC
ONE UN – Land use including agriculture/forest
Climate action for food security: harvesting adaptation and mitigation benefits in the land sector
9 November 2017 | 18h30 to 20h00 | Meeting Room 7
FAO with IFAD, WFP, UNESCO, IOM, UN WOMEN
From Science to action: Ocean and climate alliance
10 November 2017 | 11h30 to 13h00 | French Pavilion
Ocean and Climate Alliance
ONE UN – Oceans and coastal zones Ocean and climate: A resilient ocean for future generations
11 November 2017 | 18h30 to 20h00 | French Pavilion
UN-Oceans with UNU, WHO, UNHCR, IOM, ESCAP, FAO, IAEA, IOC-UNESCO
Climate change-induced displacement
13 November 2017 | 16h00 to 17h30 | Moroccan Pavilion
CNDH, UNCCD and IOM
Migration as a climate change adaptation strategy: Impacts, challenges, and potentials from a gender perspective
14 November 2017 | 15h10 to 16h10 | Talanoa Space in the Bonn Zone
The State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia on behalf of the network Gender@international Bonn
Adaptation in motion
14 November 2017 | 10h00 to 12h00 | German Development Institute
Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik DIE, TransRe / University of Bonn, Arizona State University ASU, UNU-EHS, University of Vienna, IOM
Cinema and Migration. It’s a magical bond that began over a century ago when filmmakers, many of whom were immigrants themselves, began making movies about a world on the move. Their films brought the dramatic, poignant and comic stories of migrants to diverse audiences, through a language of images and emotions that were meaningful to every culture.
The Global Migration Film Festival was launched by the UN Migration Agency (IOM) in this spirit. The festival features new films that capture the promise and challenges of migration for those who leave their homes in search of a better life and the unique contributions migrants make to their new communities.
IOM’s first Global Migration Film Festival in 2016 took place in 89 countries. Some 10,000 people attended 220 screenings at cinemas, universities, cultural institutions and other venues. The festival hosted 13 feature films and documentaries and nearly 200 short films about and by migrants, as well as dozens of post-screening discussions and side-events.
This year’s festival will take place from 5 – 18 December 2017 in countries and venues to be announced later this year. All screenings will be free of charge.
