Experts Met to Scale up Efforts
to Tackle Climate Change Displacement
14-15 May, Bogis-Bossey, Switzerland
Stakeholders from all over the world gathered in Switzerland on 14-15 May to contribute to the work of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Task Force on Displacement and to assist in drafting recommendations to avert, minimize and address displacement in the context of climate change.
“Displacement of people in vulnerable communities is happening and we have given the role to identify and strengthen practical measures to address the challenges of climate change displacement. I therefore urge the community of practitioners to deliver on this mandate by COP24,” said Pepetua Latasi, from Tuvalu, and Co-Facilitator of the Task Force on Displacement.
Sri Lanka Rapid Assessment of the Climate Change and Migration Nexus
IOM, FAO and WFP are conducting a joint rapid assessment in Sri Lanka to address data and knowledge gaps on the linkages between climate change, environmental degradation and migration.
Climate variability and extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common in Sri Lanka. The two monsoons and two inter-monsoon periods have become more unpredictable in terms of timing and expected levels of precipitation, while temperature rise has constantly been observed. Droughts, floods and landslides occur in quick succession and alternate within the same districts. Hazard risks are combined with numerous environmental issues including post-conflict landscapes (i.e. damages to agricultural infrastructure) and land degradation and deforestation, as well as scarcity of water, resource extraction and coastal and river bank erosion. Multiple disasters and climate change in Sri Lanka contribute to low livelihood resilience, seasonal food shortages, declining agriculture productivity and outbreak of tropical diseases. Vulnerable communities who have minimal resources to cope with these rapid as well as slow-onset events are at higher risk of displacement emphasizing the urgency of addressing climate migration.
However, the links between the effects of climate change and migration patterns in Sri Lanka have not been fully researched. Disaster management authorities in Sri Lanka do not currently include migration data in their analysis of disaster-induced displacement trends. While authorities record the numbers of people temporarily displaced by rapid-onset events, they do not currently record permanent environmental migration or migration trends related to slow-onset events.
The Rapid Assessment targets six districts across the country. It investigates whether people migrate, within or outside the country, as the result of, and/or as an adaptation strategy to, the impacts of climate change, natural disasters and environmental degradation. This is done through focus group discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews (KIIs) and in-depth individual interviews (IDIIs). FGDs will bring together approx. 600 community members through 24 sessions in targeted areas and will be used to learn from communities about their experience, knowledge and perceptions on the research subject. The information gathered through FGDs will be cross-examined with that produced through interviews with approximately 90 key informants in target districts. A small sample of 50-75 departing migrant workers registered at the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment will provide quantitative data to complement the survey.
The research team conducted a pilot testing of the above research tools at Bulathsinhala, Kaluthara, Western Sri Lanka. The selected village has been severely affected by extreme weather patterns for decades and was one of the worst affected community during the southwest monsoon took place May 2017. At these initial interviews community members expressed that they experience a change in frequency and severity of rainfall and temperature over the years and those have impacted in their traditional livelihoods, employment opportunities and access to resources.
Building Capacity on Migration, Environment and Climate Change in Ethiopia
25-26 April 2018, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
The Horn of Africa is considered to be one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change. In Ethiopia, approximately 500,000 persons were internally displaced due to climactic factors as of 30 April 2018, according to IOM Ethiopia’s Displacement Tracking Matrix. Slow-onset events, such as drought are most prominently known to have social and economic impacts on affected communities. However, sudden-onset events such as floods are also a common occurrence in the country. The Government of Ethiopia has taken proactive steps to adapt and build the population’s resilience to the effects of climate change, latest through the release of the country’s National Adaptation Plan (NAP) in 2017. The NAP sets out 18 adaptation goals on a federal level, which are to be trickled down to a regional state level.
On 25-26 April 2018, IOM Ethiopia in coordination with the Ethiopian Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MEFCC), organized a capacity building workshop on knowledge exchange on migration, environment and climate change among policymakers. Led by Sieun Lee, Programme Officer, IOM MECC Division, the two-day program which aimed to better integrate migration into environmental policies, disaster risk reduction as well as climate change adaptation strategies, also briefed the gathering to take environmental migration into account in migration management policies at a national level.
The workshop drew the participation of various ministries at both the federal and regional levels. It was an opportunity for Government of Ethiopia policymakers from different sectors to build their capacity on the migration-climate change nexus and to share their respective experiences in tackling this issue, an important step to address the cross-cutting issue of environmental migration. The workshop built on IOM’s capacity building programme on Migration, Environment and Climate Change and was a part of IOM’s Better Migration Management project, supported by the European Union, which aims to enhance the migration management governance in Ethiopia.
Regional Workshop on Planned Relocations in the Latin American context
2-3 May 2018, San José, Costa Rica
On May 2nd and 3rd 2018, a first Regional Workshop on Planned Relocations in Latin America was held held in San José, Costa Rica, organized by KNOMAD (World Bank), in collaboration with Georgetown University, IOM and UNHCR.
Planned relocation presents an adaptive solution to climate change, particularly in situations where environmental change such as sea level rise and coastal erosion means that maintaining livelihoods and living conditions in that area becomes physically impossible and vulnerability to disaster risk is increased. However, planned relocation carries a myriad of risks if not well designed, executed and managed. There is a critical knowledge gap for many actors in understanding the benefits and potential risks of planned relocations, despite their widespread use in some contexts. To address this gap, a series of international meetings were held between 2011 and 2015, through which State participants, academic experts from Georgetown University, UNHCR, IOM and other international actors developed a Guidance on Planned Relocations. The Guidance was followed, with assistance from IOM in the development of a Toolbox for Planned Relocations to protect people from disasters and environmental change.
The Regional Workshop represented a follow-up to the production of these publications. The aims of the workshop were: to learn from the experiences of Central America, Colombia and Mexico with relocations undertaken in order to protect people from disasters and environmental change; to present and receive feedback on the Toolbox as to its relevance in the Central American context; and to encourage governments and other actors to begin thinking about how planned relocations fit into their national strategies on risk reduction and climate change adaptation.
The workshop was organized by the Thematic Working Group (TWG) on Environmental Change and Migration of the Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD) of the World Bank, in collaboration with the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University, the International Organization for Migration and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The workshop included representatives from relevant ministries of Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama as well as from international organizations and civil society organizations.
Expert meeting on “Improving data on human mobility, environment and climate change: Priorities for action”
25-26 April 2018, Berlin, Germany
IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC), the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD), and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) organized a technical expert meeting to discuss how data on human mobility in the context of disasters, environmental and climate change could be improved. Around 20 experts from academia, UN agencies and NGOs working in the area took stock of existing initiatives and methodologies as well as action points to move forward. New innovative data approaches were presented that enable to increase coverage and timeliness of collecting information.
Despite important progress over the past years, data collection on human mobility (e.g. displacement and migration) in the context of disasters and environmental and climate change is still disparate and facing several challenges, in particular when it comes to slow-onset environmental change and national and local-level dynamics. While figures on displacement in the aftermath of disasters are global in coverage, these data are not comprehensive and continue to undercount the full extent of movements. The lack of time series and geospatially referenced data makes it difficult to assess situations as they evolve over time. In addition, new methods such as innovation through big data provide opportunities that can further be strengthened in trying to estimate the extent of movements in contexts of disasters and degrading environment. These new methods can fill gaps in time series data, indicate where people have moved from and where to, and enhance the timeliness of this information. In some cases, these new methods could be used to inform life-saving early warnings.
The workshop was organized in the framework of the Data and Knowledge Working Group of the PDD, which is co-chaired by IOM and IDMC. Participants developed an action plan to address these data gaps, which will feed into other upcoming meetings and the work of the PDD.
The increasing number of global water challenges and associated migration patterns – in many cases forced migration – create a strong impetus to discuss and integrate migration policy concerns in water governance at the global level.
This policy brief examines the nexus between migration and freshwater governance and explores the potential synergies between both policy domains.
