Address migration and displacement in the context of disasters, the adverse effects of climate change and environmental degradation
IOM will address migration and displacement in the context of disasters, the adverse effects of climate change and environmental degradation by implementing the IOM Institutional Strategy on Migration, Environment and Climate Change 2021 – 2030. IOM will promote policy coherence and inclusive partnerships to mainstream the inclusion of migration and displacement considerations in climate change, environment, disaster and other relevant agendas. IOM will support States and other actors to develop rights-based migration policies and practices that integrate issues of climate change, environmental degradation and disasters. IOM will strengthen the production, analysis and dissemination of relevant data and knowledge, and operationalize responses to migration and displacement in the context of environmental degradation, climate change and disasters across the Humanitarian Development Peace Nexus (HDPN).
LAST UPDATED: 4/JUL/23
IOM has continued the implementation of its Institutional Strategy on Migration, Environment and Climate Change 2021-2030 together with states and partners, at global, regional, national and local levels with activities spanning over policy development, capacity building, research and operational interventions.
IOM continued to actively leverage global, national and regional policy fora to ensure the recognition of migration and displacement issues in discussions and outcomes of key climate policy processes. Working closely with Member States and a wide range of partners, IOM provided technical assistance that successfully supported the inclusion of human mobility in COP27 discussions. For instance, the IOM Director General and UN Network Coordinator, participated in the COP27 Presidency high-level roundtable entitled “Climate Change and the Sustainability of Communities in Climate Vulnerable Situations,” - the first time that human mobility was discussed during the World Leaders Summit. IOM’s dedicated advocacy saw a rise in human mobility-related events at COP27, and several key negotiated decisions include human mobility dimensions. This engagement was reinforced by a high-level segment on the intersection between climate change, food security, migration anddisplacement at the 113th Session of the IOM Council, with 49 Member States and four observers taking the floor. Finally, IOM Co-Chairs the UN Network on Migration workstream on Climate Change, the GCM and the Paris Agreement, together with ILO and UNFCCC, and is a founding member of the Task Force on Displacement under the UNFCCC.
Building on and feeding into the global commitments, regional and multi-country frameworks provide the opportunity for nations to take a collaborative approach to migrationmanagement that includes adaptation strategies to protect and empower communities adversely affected by climate change.
• The UN joint Pacific Climate Change Migration and Human Security programme facilitated national consultations across 13 countries. This was complimented by a week-long Regional Dialogue on Climate Mobility. Across all events government partners, civil society, community-based organisations, and traditional leaders contributed to the dialogue on climate-related mobility that will inform the new Pacific Regional Framework on Climate Mobility.
• In July 2022, the Government of the Republic of Uganda was supported by IOM andUNFCCC to organize a regional inter-ministerial conference on “Migration, Environment andClimate Change in the East and Horn of Africa” aimed to developing an integrated approach to climate change induced mobility across the region. A landmark, "Kampala Ministerial Declaration on Migration, Environment and Climate Change” was signed by 15 States.
• Representatives of parliaments from Central America, the Dominican Republic Mexico, andPuerto Rico gathered through interparliamentary commissions to develop a new Regional Framework Law on Migration on the Management of Climate and Environmental Migration to enhance the governance of climate migration in the region. The initiative was supported by IOM and identified relevant approaches for governments to address the impacts of climate migration on human mobility.
• The Issue Based Coalition on Migration in the Arab region, of which IOM is a co-convenor, with support from the Regional United Nations Network on Migration in the Arab region organized a Regional Dialogue on the Climate Change and Migration Nexus in the Arab Region, to discuss the impact of climate change on migration patterns and trends to andfrom the Arab Region. This paves the way for cross-regional collaboration on climate-induced migration and displacement.
To build and further develop capacities of States and other actors on analyzing andadvancing GCM implementation progress, IOM, together with partners, worked towards developing two sets of indicators. These are intended to support countries in measuring progress in relation to their commitments on a voluntary basis:
• Given the lack of displacement-related metrics among the indicators that countries use to monitor progress of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030,
IOM and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre have launched a joint project to develop a set of indicators for monitoring disaster displacement, its impacts and related risks. These indicators will support the reporting under GCM objective 2.
• Similarly, to cover the gap in indicators to monitor implementation of the GCM, IOM and the Platform on Disaster Displacement, as part to the UN Network on Migration workstream on climate change, have developed an indicator framework to assess the progress made by States on implementing the GCM objectives related to disasters, climate change andenvironmental degradation. This framework has already been piloted to produce a baseline analysis for 21 countries.
At programmatic level, over 30% of IOM’s programme budget now addresses climate change adaptation and risk reduction considerations, with the largest investments in Africa and the Asia-Pacific, as well as 23 IOM country offices are engaged in climate change adaptation activities, 21 in mitigation activities, and 43 in policy support.
Building an understanding of the link between migration, environment, climate change andrisk reduction is key to developing appropriate mitigation and adaptation strategies. In 2022, IOM produced research on the links between migration, environment and climate change in over 50 countries, in contexts as diverse as Cambodia, Costa Rica, Iraq, and Mali. In addition, IOM is piloting guidance on integrating human mobility into National Adaptation Plans with governments in multiple countries, such as in Moldova, the Marshall Islands, Peru and Tajikistan.
For more information please see:
• Environmental Migration Portal ""https://environmentalmigration.iom.int/"
• IOM SCPF S/31/11 - Update on displacement, migration and climate action: promoting innovative approaches to prevention, preparedness, response and solutions "https://governingbodies.iom.int/system/files/en/scpf/31st/S-31-11 - Displacement migrationand climate action.pdf"
• IOM Annual Report 2022 Section “Addressing the drivers of displacement and mobility andpromoting peace.’’
