Climate and Human Mobility: Working with Mayors to Advance SDGs 10 and 13

6 July 2021 - 13:00-14:30 EDT / 18.00-19.30 BST / 19:00-20:30 CEST

The British Council, C40 Cities-Mayors Migration Council Global Mayors Task Force on Climate and Migration (C40-MMC Task Force), the Global Parliament of Mayors (GPM), International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) invite you to an official side event of the 2021 UN HLPF.

The 2019 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report reveals that land degradation is already negatively impacting the livelihoods and well-being of at least 3.2 billion people, while rising sea levels could submerge the homeland of 280 million people by the end of this century. These climate change challenges will reflect on internal and international population movements. While it is today widely recognized that environmental migration is complex and multifaceted, we also know that most people’s journeys will lead them to cities.

Cities deal with the realities of climate change and human mobility on a daily basis — from protecting residents from extreme heat and fires, flooding, and landslides, to welcoming people displaced by the effects of climate change domestically or abroad, to promoting climate justice and leaving no one behind in the green transition. It is in cities that the local-level implications on planning, service provision, and access to resources and opportunities—or lack thereof—will be felt most acutely.

Migration and climate change issues are core concerns for current and future sustainable development, which cannot be addressed in silos. This event serves as a bridge between the review of SDGs 10 and 13, as well as related goals, like SDG 7.

Format

This roundtable discussion will bring together mayors, national government representatives, and multilateral organisations. The event will consist of a high-level roundtable of panelists in a Davos-style session facilitated by a moderator. The event will be fully virtual and accessible to pre-registered participants. Interpretation in English, French and Spanish will be provided.

Moderator:

Shipra Narang Suri, Chief Urban Practices Branch, UN-Habitat

Panelists:

• Fiona Clouder, COP26 Regional Ambassador for Latin America and the Caribbean, Government of the United Kingdom.
• Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Freetown, Sierra Leone; Co-Lead of the C40-MMC Global Mayors Task Force on Climate and Migration
• Mayor Peter Kurz, Mannheim, Germany; Chair of the Global Parliament of Mayors
• Brigid Shea, Commissioner of Travis County, Texas; Chair of ICLEILocal Governments for Sustainability USA (ICLEI USA)
• Marta Youth, Deputy Assistant Secretary Bureau of Population, Refugees, And Migration, State Department, United States
• Anare Leweniqila, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Fiji to the United Nations in Geneva and Chair of the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD)