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 © IOM, 2015 (Top photo by Alessandro Grassani)
 © IOM, 2016
 

Human Mobility at UNFCCC Bonn Negotiations (SB44)
17 May 2016
Bonn, Germany
 

IOM, in collaboration with the Advisory Group on Climate Change and Human Mobility, organized two side events on migration and displacement at the May Bonn Climate Conference – the major global meeting after COP21 in Paris and in the lead up to COP22 in Marrakesh.
 
The first event brought together specialists from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), the United Nations University (UNU) and the University of Liege, to discuss the evidence and knowledge available to support policymakers in responding to climate migration and displacement. Findings from the IOM-led MECLEP project as well as IDMC's new Global Report on Internal Displacement were shared with an audience of 70+ people. Report on this event is available on the UNFCCC Newsroom.  
 
The second event focused on the UNFCCC Taskforce on climate-related displacement, to be created under the leadership of the Executive Committee (EXCOM) of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (WIM), that arose from a COP21 Decision linked to the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Co-chairs of the EXCOM as well as representatives from the Government of Switzerland and Action Aid discussed the stakes around the creation of the Taskforce and its foreseen work programme.
 

Read IOM’s submission to the UNFCCC EXCOM/WIM here

Read the Advisory Group's submission to the UNFCCC EXCOM/WIM here

 © IOM, 2016
 

Azerbaijan Policymaker Capacity Building Workshop
on Migration, Environment, Climate Change
2-4 May, 2016
Baku, Azerbaijan

 

A three-day capacity building workshop for policy makers on the topic of migration, environment and climate change took place in Baku from 2 to 4 May 2016. The workshop, designed to enhance understanding on environmental migration and to provide policy makers with concrete tools that can support national policy making, was organized by the International Organization for Migration.

Azerbaijan is facing diverse environmental challenges such as floods, earthquakes as well as slow-onset events including sea-level change, land degradation and droughts. The country has suffered displacements of people, due to the increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters and environmental degradation.

Over twenty participants attended the workshop including government officials from Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, State Migration Service, Ministry of Emergency Situations and the State Statistical Committee as well as those from academic institutions such as Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), Baku State University and the Caspian Center for Energy and Environment of ADA University.

The workshop identified the need to improve the understanding and assessment of risks and vulnerabilities associated with sudden onset disasters, and to evaluate the potential for planned relocation; legal frameworks to manage cross-border displacement following natural disasters; and adaptation through improved environmental management in areas exposed to degradation so as to limit the pressure to migrate out of those areas.

The workshop is funded by the IOM Development Fund and is the first IOM MECC capacity building workshop conducted in Russian.

IOM Briefing on Migration, Environment and Climate Change 
Celebrating the signature of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change
10 May 2016
United Nations HQ, New York, USA
 

The Permanent Missions of Bangladesh and France to the United Nations, in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), convened a briefing on Migration, Environment and Climate Change. The opening remarks were delivered by Shereen D’Souza from the US Department of State, acting in her capacity of the American Co-chair of the Warsaw International Mechanism, the body of work tasked with mainstreaming human mobility questions in the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement under the Climate Convention (UNFCCC).

The briefing brought forth key messages that better understanding and exploration of the nexus between migration, environment and climate change is critical to moving this agenda forward and to ensure engagement of the international community. Increased data collection and analysis on issues of climate migration is key to shaping response and preparedness, and contextualized response to climate change and environmental degradation, and resulting displacement, is necessary. The Paris Agreement does not commit countries to address the legal needs of climate-displaced migrants, leaving broader gaps in rights and funding, and these legal gaps should be remedied. Panelists agreed that the international community must capitalize on current momentum and political will to address climate migration and for policy coherence in addressing climate migration. 

Bangladesh, France, Germany, USA as well as Columbia University, the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developing Countries and SIDS (UN-OHRLLS) and Karen AbuZayd, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants, were among the panelists and over 80 participants joined the briefing. 

© CVF, 2016
 

Climate Change and Labour: Impacts of Heat in the Workplace
28 April, 2016
Geneva, Switzerland

On the occasion of the International Workers’ Memorial Day, the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the International Labor Organization (ILO); the International Organization for Migration (IOM); the World Health Organization (WHO); UNI Global Union (UNI), the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and ACT Alliance held a multi-stakeholder meeting to recognize and address one of the most important but less visible climate change impacts: rising temperate and increasing heat extremes.
 
Chaired by the the Permanent Mission of the Philippines (CVF chair), the event focused on the significant emerging challenge of changing thermal conditions due to climate change on exposed working populations especially in vulnerable developing countries and the consequences, inter alia, on migration and health. The meeting offered possible solutions to address this issue as part of the implementation of the SDGs and the Paris Agreement in the lead up to COP22. From human mobility point of view, Dina Ionesco, Head of Migration, Environment and Climate Change Division at IOM, presented the link between migration and climate change, and highlighted various migrant scenarios in the light of climate risk, including migration as an adaptation strategy.
 
The event announced the release of an issue paper, Climate Change and Labour – Impacts of Heat In The Workplace, presenting facts and figures about the scale of the impacts of climate change on workers’ health and labor productivity.

 

Research Training Workshop in Mauritius
25-28 April 2016
Port Luis, Mauritius