Event
30 Mar 2022

Climate Change and Migration in the UNECE Region: A Virtual Discussion with Stakeholders and Partners

  • Date
    07 Apr 2022, 08:30am
  • Location
    Online ( Time Zone CET)
  • Organizer

    International Organization for Migration

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Climate change is impacting the lives and livelihoods of people across the UNECE region and is exacerbating pre-existing inequalities and vulnerabilities; threatening the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and hindering recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Safe, regular and orderly migration is a powerful driver of sustainable development, adaptation and resilience-building in the face of climate change impacts. Migration supports livelihood diversification, increases financial remittances and new adaptive skills, and reduces pressures on natural resources. It also fulfilslabour market gaps and offsets skills shortages, inherently supporting the green transition and building back better from the COVID19 pandemic.

Together, this strengthensthe achievement of the 2030 Agenda. It is therefore clear that climate action, sustainable development and migration cannot be addressed in silos. Integrated policies that consider the migration, environment, and climate change nexus as well as global and regional partnerships act as an accelerator for achieving the 2030 Agenda and SDGs. Yet many UNECE countries have yet to integrate migration into their national climate action plans. Regional initiatives like the European Green Deal, which is inherent to the region’s strategy to Build Back Better, also do not significantly feature migration.

Ahead of COP27, it is important to mobilize stakeholders to integrate migration perspectives into climate action as governments renew and develop new commitments. Global partnerships and enhanced regional cooperation and policymaking that focuses on facilitating movement will play a key role in the global green transition, building back better and the subsequent achievement of the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs. 

Objectives:

  1. Raise awareness of the migration, environment and climate change nexus and its interlinkages with development, and how migration in the context of climate change can act as a driver of development, adaptation and resilience-building to advance the 2030 Agenda, its SDGs, and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
  2. Highlight the importance of policy coherence to address these issues and discuss how they could be reflected in global, regional and national policies, programmes and initiatives ahead of COP27.
  3. Unpack the roles and responsibilities of different actors, including UNECE governments and regional bodies, to ensure migration is considered in the development of global, regional, and national policies, programmes and initiatives.

Expected Outcomes: Ahead of COP27, key messages will be shared to enhance regional and global coherence to avert, minimize and address disaster displacement and ensure the benefits of migration on climate change adaptation and sustainable development are integrated into regional and national policy processes.

Read more here.

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