The inaugural WUN Migration Conference explores the issue of migration through the lens of WUN’s identified Global Challenges in public health, in responding to climate change, in understanding cultures and in global higher education. The conference aims to facilitate discourse that will contribute to the Post 2015 Development Agenda discussion. The multi-perspective view that the conference will take positions it well to contribute to this important discussion and to give recommendations on how migration can be incorporated into the new agenda. 

International migration is frequently discussed in association with development. There are approximately 234 million international migrants in the world (UNDESA, 2013). When internal mobility is included this number becomes almost immeasurable. Although the significance of migration is clear, the topic remains complex. Great variations in the conditions faced by migrants, and consequent impacts on health and well-being, are mirrored in its developmental impacts.  In going forward, it is important to consider the role of migration as an enabler of development through a number of different channels: monetary and social remittances, the act of migrating, and the impacts on those left behind.  The evidence base for internal migration is often more robust and plentiful than for international migration and thus, where relevant, the impacts of internal migration on development are also considered. 

Two ways in which migration could be incorporated in the Post-2015 Development Agenda are: 1) situating migration alongside other ‘enablers’ of migration such as trade in a reformulated version of MDG 8 on global partnerships; and 2) through the inclusion of migration related indicators as a cross-cutting theme in the new development goals. Within the frame of this conference, we will push this discussion further.

Conference will include a session on climate change and migration. 

Saturday, 24 April. 15:30-17:00
Responding to Climate Change - Climate change impacts on habitation

Chair: Professor Susan Parnell, The University of Cape Town

Climate change is expected to cause large-scale migratory flows in the future, as people seek to escape environmental degradation and natural disasters and adapt to a changing environment. However, large-scale migratory movements can also significantly affect ecosystems and contribute to further environmental degradation. This panel considers the link between migration and climate change.

Professor Tim Benton, UK Champion for Global Food Security & Professor of Population Ecology, The University of Leeds
Food-water-land and climate change: impacts on people.

Mr Andrea Milan, Research Associate, United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) Bonn
Climate-related stressors and human mobility: insights from recent empirical work in the global South

Professor Susan Parnell, African Centre for Cities, The University of Cape Town
Sub-Saharan African urbanisation and global environmental change

For more information, visit the organizer's website: http://wun.ac.uk/wun/events/view/wun-migration-conference-2015