Gaps and Emerging Challenges: The Impact of our Evolving Climate on Migrants

Last year, the Solidarity Center released a report examining the intersection of climate change, its impacts on livelihoods, and migration in Bangladesh. The results of this research provide examples of the devastating impacts of climate change on low wage workers. More than 80% of Bangladesh’s southwestern coastal region has been affected by high levels of salinity from rising sea levels, substantially impacting livelihoods. In just 2 years, rice production dropped by 100,000 tons, contributing to food shortages and economic vulnerability. Climate devastation is pushing already precarious low wage Bangladeshi workers further into the informal economy or forcing them to migrate. 

The ILO estimates that 2 billion workers worldwide work in the informal economy outside of formal labor protections, including the ability to form or join unions. The majority of workers in t...

• At present, agriculture, rural development and climate change policies and programmes rarely consider migration, and seldom acknowledge the positive contribution that migration can make to climate change adaptation.  

FAO has been supporting national and local governments: i) to integrate migration considerations into climate and environmental policies and programmes from a rural livelihoods perspective; and ii) to foster multi-sectoral collaboration and policy coherence in the areas of migration, agriculture and climate change.  

FAO and IOM developed a Toolkit on Integrating Migration into Rural Development Interventions that aims at supporting rural development actors to understand how migration can be reflected in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programm...

1. Working with rural populations to address the adverse drivers of migration in the context of climate change - To support migration as adaptation to climate change, and to ensure that migration is a choice and not a necessity. This entails creating alternatives in rural areas, to enable adaptation in place. Scientific evidence shows that not everyone who is exposed to and impacted by climate change has the desire or means to move.  For example, FAO works closely with climate affected rural communities and promotes the sustainable use and management of natural resources, as well as helps create climate-resilient livelihoods and green employment opportunities in rural areas. FAO’s work in this area is tailored to the specific needs of rural youth and women, recognizing that they often face constraints regarding their involvement in agricultural activities, as well as regarding ...

The Solidarity Center proposes three recommendations, and key to all is that workers and their communities must have a meaningful say in driving climate solutions:

1.)    Climate adaptation planning and implementation must include the development of sustainable decent work options to promote greater resilience for communities, particularly from future shocks.  We must focus on long-term planning and not just reactive short-term solutions to ensure that climate adaptation and resilience measures make migration a choice and not a necessity.  

2.) As governments take on the mandate of the global compact to enhance better regular migration pathways, these pathways must account for projected climate displacement. As the climate crisis worsens, we cannot wait to develop a plan to integrate climate migrants into our societies and economies. <...

• Migration should be fully part of the climate adaptation discourse and climate action, in general. Climate adaptation and mitigation policies and programmes need to consider migration in order to: i) address specific needs of migrants since migration can increase exposure to climate change; ii) reduce the risk of unintentionally cause displacement and/or affect migration patterns and; iii) recognize and harness the potential of migration as climate adaptation strategy.  

• Policy frameworks that promote regular migration pathways (e.g., seasonal migration) are needed in order to maximise the benefits of migration for climate change adaptation and resilience. There is increasing evidence that well planned and well-managed migration is an important adaptation and risk diversification str...