Implementing Global Policies on Environmental Migration and Disaster Displacement at the Caribbean Level

Location: Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

Coordinating Agency: International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Donor:  Republic of France

Duration of the project: 32 months (from January 2022 to August 2024).

Context

Caribbean countries have been found to be amongst the most vulnerable worldwide to the increased impacts of climate change. Research has revealed different patterns of climate change related to human mobility across the region including disaster-induced displacement and evacuation, labour migration and urbanization and planned relocations in the context of environmental degradation. The region has seen more frequent and intense severe storms, sea-level rise, rainfall variability and temperature increase which are hazardous to habitability and livelihoods. Given the realities of environmental migration and the climate change projections, there is an urgent need to address the resulting population movements.

Scope 

The project is managed by the IOM Coordination Office for the Caribbean in Barbados and is implemented in the 15 Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), namely Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as the Republic of Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. 

Project description:

IOM is supporting the development of coherent approaches in the Caribbean to address the challenges and opportunities of migration in the context of sudden-onset and slow-onset disasters, including by taking into consideration relevant recommendations from international frameworks including the 2030 Agenda for Development, the Global Compact for Migration, the UNFCCC's Task Force on Displacement, and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Therefore, the project will focus on improving Caribbean stakeholders' knowledge and action on environmental migration, strengthening civil society organizations' (CSOs) capacities to engage more effectively in environmental migration policy discussions, and enhancing regional coordination in the Caribbean through making global and regional frameworks on environmental migration more visible.

Project main components

Given the advances that have been made by different actors and platforms on environmental migration and disaster displacement globally and in the region, three main outcomes have been identified to support the development of coherent approaches in the Caribbean on the challenges and opportunities of migration in the context of climate change:

1. Improved action and learning: 

To meet challenges related to limited exchanges, expertise and knowledge, the project will identify good practices implemented by Caribbean Governments, and regional and local actors on environmental migration and disaster displacement that can benefit other stakeholders in the region. Therefore, an online training programme has been established identifying the most relevant areas of learning and the selected countries of excellence, namely: 

- Mainstreaming the migration, environment and climate change nexus into climate change policies and disaster risk reduction strategies,

- Leveraging evacuations in disaster risk reduction strategies, 

- Planned relocation: opportunities and best practices, 

- Gender equality in environmental migration and disaster displacement, 

- Labour migration and diaspora in the context of climate change,

- Bridging humanitarian and development efforts on climate-induced migration in the Caribbean.

2. Capacity building: 

As the Global Compact for Migration encourages increased engagement of civil society on migration, the project will strengthen the capacity of CSOs in selected Caribbean countries to support their intervention on environmental migration issues through:

- Tailored capacity building webinars based on CSO's needs and the situation of Caribbean countries with respect to climate change action and disaster risk reduction policymaking and identified vulnerabilities,

- Development of regional and national policy papers on human rights and environmental migration by trained CSOs,

- Creation of a network of CSOs that can engage with regional and international organizations and respond to the challenges of environmental migration and disaster displacement through the organization of a regional conference for CSOs on environmental migration and disaster displacement which will facilitate exchanges of information and best practices, as well as identify synergies. 

3. Visibility: 

Caribbean countries are active actors in climate negotiations and have joined major discussion platforms, such as the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Task Force on Displacement (TFD). However, further efforts are required for enhanced visibility of global and regional frameworks and processes relevant to the migration, environment and climate change nexus. Within the scope of this outcome, the project will participate in and contribute to the visibility of the intervention in national, regional and global processes. The project will also produce communication outputs to showcase the importance of addressing the migration, environment and climate change nexus in the Caribbean. Further, a final conference will be organized in the Caribbean to share experiences from the interventions, disseminate updates from global processes, and build momentum and address the need for enhanced collaboration at the wider Caribbean level on environmental migration.

Contacts for the project: Hélène Glénisson (heglenisson@iom.int)

The project is implemented in coordination with IOM Country Offices in the Caribbean, IOM Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, key governmental actors at the national and regional levels and CSOs.