When Hurricane Maria hit Dominica this year, Tosca Augustine and her three children sought shelter in a nearby school as they saw their home vanish into thin air along with all their belongings.
Our work at the UN Migration Agency (IOM) targets migrants and their communities, through an engagement with public representatives from the national, international, regional or local level.
The COP21 Paris Agreement adopted by world governments on 12th December 2015 represents a unprecedented breakthrough for action on migration and climate with the formal inclusion of “mig
Increasingly, as attention is being devoted to the human mobility and climate nexus, we hear more and more calls from various actors to design and implement policies for climate adaptation that include a migration component.
The link between policy and art can offer innovative and effective ways to better understand and address environmental migration.
By Dina Ionesco
World Environment Day gives us an opportunity to reflect on the complex linkages that relate human beings to their environment. One in seven people on this planet is a migrant and the fact that they are on the move impacts the lives of billions more people.
By Dina Ionesco, Policy Officer, IOM
The slogan of this year Environment Day is “Raise your voice, not the sea level” and we are very pleased that our Newsletter offers a space for raising many different voices. Through these voices we want to highlight a diversity of visions, perspectives and opinions expressed by high level policy makers, researchers, lawyers, anthropologists, cultural activists, representatives of non-governmental organizations, IOM experts and even children. In response we are focussing on four key words in this issue: adaptation, abilities, alliances and action.
Asia, Bangladesh, Shatkira district. Salma Khatun, 25 years old, in her flooded house. She lives in a small village a few miles from the city of Shatkira. ©Alessandro Grassani 2011
“I am heartened by the fact that migration and population displacement now feature in a UN Climate Change document, but we need to go further. As the international migration agency, we are committed to making progress in three main areas. First, to support the least developed and developing countries in their efforts to integrate migration into adaptation planning, as they are currently developing their National Adaptation Plans. Second, to continue our work on mainstreaming migrants’ contributions into development strategies. Third, to enhance capacities needed to manage environmental migration. If systematically included in development policies, the multiple contributions of migrants can significantly contribute to sustainable and green strategies” William Swing. IOM Director – General. World Environment Day
By Dina Ionesco
By Dina Ionesco
The European Union Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change released in April 2013 by the European Commission (EC) emphasizes the interlinkages between climate change, environmental degradation, and migration through a special Commission Staff Working Document devoted to the topic.
It looks at a wide spectrum of activities including humanitarian aid, disaster risk reduction, relocation, migration management and protection. Two key messages emerge from the human mobility perspective: first, the recognition that migration is one possible adaptation strategy and a coping mechanism for individuals and communities. Second, the call for a better integration of migration with environment as a recognized trigger, into development strategies, by using relevant migration and development knowledge, tools and programmes. The presence of migration in a Communication focused on adaptation, matches the efforts integrate adaptation in the migration and mobility related EC legislation.
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