On the first day of the GFMD Summit in Geneva, the GFMD Civil Society Mechanism builds on its leading role in 2022-23 consultation and cooperation to co-chair an official Roundtable on climate and human mobility.
The 14th Summit of the 2023-24 Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) under the French Chairmanship began in Geneva on 23 January 2024. Following an official opening and parallel panel discussions, the afternoon saw the first GFMD Government-led Roundtable (GRT) meetings, six of which are due to take place during the three days of the Summit’s programme.
Alongside the governments of Fiji and Argentina, the GFMD Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) co-chaired the 2023-24 GFMD GRT on climate change and human mobility.** Represented by Elana Wong, the CSM took a leading role in preparing, convening and hosting the 23 January GFMD GRT1 meeting ‘The Impact of Climate Change on Human Mobility: Preventive Action, Humanitarian Action and Development’.
GRT1 Climate Change and Human Mobility: consultation, preparation and priorities
Government-led roundtables are the key GFMD process for consultative and collaborative work, undertaken during the preparation for each Summit, on the thematic priorities selected under each chairmanship. They are state-led and engage the CSM, Business, and Mayors Mechanisms, Migration Youth and Children Platform (MYCP), international organisations, academics, development partners, and other stakeholders to provide thematic inputs and assist in the preparation and review of GRT background papers.[EW1]
For the priority of climate change and mobility, three preparatory GFMD GRT1 meetings took place in November 2022, and April and October of 2023. Additionally, 2023 saw two GFMD thematic workshops addressing the priority of climate change and human mobility: ‘The Impact of Climate Change on Labour Migration’ (29 March, Geneva), and ‘Climate and Human Mobility’ (28 June, Paris). A diverse range of civil society voices were present throughout these global preparations and consultations.
The final GFMD GRT1 Background Paper*** (‘The Impact of Climate Change on Human Mobility’) is informed by the inputs of 40 contributing organisations and member states gathered via these consultations and events, and builds on prior GFMD discussions and conclusions in this area. The paper highlights three policy development priorities for climate change and human mobility – data, financing, and climate-resilient development and regular pathways – which formed the basis for discussions at the GRT1 meeting held at the Summit.
GRT1 Opening Panel: National, regional and global perspectives on climate change and human mobility
The GRT1 meeting at the GFMD Summit opened with an expert panel presenting perspectives on experiences, action, and priorities for climate change and human mobility drawn from the national, regional and global levels.
Sharing a national perspective, Mr. Aliyu Tijani Ahmed, Federal Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), emphasised the severe and specific impacts of climate change for Nigeria.
“Sixty per cent of our population farm crops, keep livestock, or fish, our population lives largely between two major rivers,” he explained. “Environmental degradation and drought mean land becomes unusable for agriculture or grazing, and sudden climate events such as flooding destroy land completely and make fish scarce. People are forced to move some distance from their homes, to find land or be able to fish, or to migrate to an entirely new context in order to ensure their livelihoods.”
Mr. Ahmed highlighted how the majority of this displacement is internal, with significant numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in camps within Nigeria. “People may also have moved from their rural home to a city in search of employment, and then find that they can’t go back because the land has degraded or has been destroyed,” he added. “So this is another population that is displaced and living in insecure circumstances due to climate change.”
The Nigerian government is taking action both to address climate change and assist those affected, including by establishing and resourcing the Commission that Mr. Ahmed leads. “We are focusing on climate education for children and young people, and skills development for those displaced to urban areas,” he stated. “We’re also investigating in mitigation measures such as tree-planting initiatives, at the community level and in IDP camps.“
Helena Olea, Deputy Director at Alianza Americas, reflected on experiences and lessons learned from Latin America and on the modalities of international cooperation and discussion on climate and mobility. “It’s positive that here we can use both French and Spanish, as holding discussions on climate and mobility only in English – as is so often the case – excludes those who are most affected,” she explained. “It makes participation only for elites, and this is profoundly unhelpful.”
She emphasised the benefits of opening spaces for international discussion in this area to civil society, youth, the private sector and local government. “The GFMD is part of this process, which is of great value, but here today I am certainly not able to represent the diversity of global civil society experiences and priorities.” She pointed to the need to include indigenous populations in Latin America in discussion spaces, to learn from their considerable experience in challenging climate-damaging state and corporate practices.
Echoing experiences from Nigeria, Ms. Olea highlighted the need for policy to take account of the prevalence of internal displacement in migration driven by climate change. “We must also recognise the role of civil society in helping people to leave their communities when they can no longer stay, and in creating and supporting reception capacities in the places they move to,” she urged. “Cities and local government are crucial partners.”
Ms. Olea emphasised the importance of regular pathways as a means to ensure migrants do not risk their lives in order to move. “We also need better data,” she stated. “We know that around 500,000 people are on the move through Panama, for example, but our knowledge is inadequate to map or predict flows or meet specific needs.”
Ms. Olea concluded with a call to make the best use of existing frameworks as vehicles for progress on climate and mobility. “Chile is leading a process around the 40th anniversary of the Cartagena Declaration in 2024, she explained. “We see here some potential to renew commitments to protection and rights, and to move forward on the dual issue of climate and mobility.”
Speaking from a global perspective, Ugochi Daniels, Deputy Director General for Operations at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), highlighted progress on climate mobility at the December 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28).
“We heard clear messages on action, for example on fossil fuels and achieving the Just Transition, and importantly on the urgency of this action,” she stated. “Crucially, we also had the agreement on operationalising the Loss and Damage fund, which includes human mobility caused by sudden and slow onset climate change as a damage, meaning states will have possibilities to access the funds they need.”
Ms. Daniels pointed to migration as an opportunity to contribute to the climate resilience and adaptive capacity of communities envisaged in the COP Global Goal on Adaptation, fill a considerable shortfall in labour needed to achieve the Just Transition, and provide opportunities and livelihoods for migrants themselves.
“We now need to deliver on the promise of migration, for migrants,” she stated. “This means people-centred, regular, sustainable, and rights-based pathways.” She highlighted several promising regional processes addressing the rights and needs of those in affected communities, both those who migrate and those who cannot or choose not to. These include the July 2022 Kampala Ministerial Declaration on Migration, Environment and Climate Change, November 2023 Pacific Island Forum’s Pacific Regional Framework on Climate Mobility, and a 2023 bilateral agreement between Australia and Tuvalu enabling 280 Tuvalu nationals per year to settle in Australia, in recognition of the existential threat posed to Tuvalu by climate change.
Knowledge, best practice, challenges and solutions: GRT1 breakout discussions
Parallel breakout discussions in English, French, and Spanish each addressed one of the three GRT1 subtopics: data, financing, and climate-resilient development and regular pathways. Discussions were structured around three guiding questions:
- What is needed to develop and ensure rights-based regular migration pathways in the context of disasters, climate change, and environmental degradation? Examples? Who needs to develop them, and with what support?
- What is needed to accelerate inclusive, context-specific, and climate-resilient development at the local, national, regional, and global levels, both for those who choose to migrate and those who can’t or do not wish to? What commitments have governments and other actors already made, and what action have they taken?
- What needs to be in place to support stakeholders, including migrants, to respond to the impacts on mobility of disasters, climate change, and environmental degradation?
- Data
Breakout discussions on data in the context of climate change and human mobility focused on both datasets and data-related mechanisms.
Delegates highlighted the pressing need to improve current datasets so as to support data-driven policymaking. Of key importance were better national and context-specific data to supplement that are available at the regional level – particularly collected in partnership with affected communities, better information on current migratory flows to balance the current focus on flow projections, and more localised data generated by both local governments and affected communities.
The absence of disaggregated data was emphasised as a key challenge for policymaking that addresses the specific and varied needs of migrants. “If we ask ‘who’s moving?’, the answer is that at present we really don’t know,” one delegate remarked. “We need disaggregated data on aspects such as age, gender, migration status, disability and so on, so we know what the needs and vulnerabilities are and can respond accordingly.”
More generally, delegates were keen to highlight the uncertainty regarding the position of climate change amongst the complex set of factors that drive migration. “Climate change is both a driver of migration and a threat multiplier, and rarely the sole cause of people moving,” said one delegate. “We need proper analyses of why people are moving, and of the role of climate change in their decision-making.”
In terms of data mechanisms, delegates strongly urged for the democratisation of data collection and access. “Repositories of data need to be made available to everyone,” one breakout group reported. “Theinteroperability of data repositories, across states and regions, and internationally, is also crucial for better policymaking and action, as is using more consistent terminology to better reflect realities on the ground and articulate common challenges.”
Delegates called for investment to support states to improve national statistical data collection systems, such as by introducing data disaggregation, and for state investment and trust in data collection carried out by civil society organisations. Acknowledging the value of processes such as the GFMD in facilitating data-sharing, discussions focused on the need to use existing global and regional frameworks and processes to ensure a systematic exchange of data at all levels.
- Financing
Breakout discussions on financing focused on financing mechanisms, where funding is needed, and who is or should be responsible for providing it.
Several breakout groups acknowledged the limited financial resources available to both states and multilateral organisations, frameworks and processes, and the need to maximise the impact of what is available through effective targeting of funds. There were strong calls to prioritise building the climate resilience of affected communities, in particular through state and institutional investments and planning, and to ensure the financing of mitigation measures for climate-vulnerable communities.
Emphasising the importance of protection and access to information at the community level, delegates called for funding to be made available to assess the extent of loss and damage and determine if affected localities and communities are safe to return to. They also called for creative approaches to combining climate and migration financing, in order to address multiple priorities in a more streamlined way, and for remittances to be better targeted toward building resilience, mitigation, and adaptation at the local level.
The importance of direct funding to the local level was strongly highlighted in the breakout discussions. “We need to support and emphasise bottom-up action involving communities, local governments, refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants,” remarked one delegate. “This needs funding, to enable local actors to be both reactive and to engage in long-term planning.”
- Climate-resilient development and regular pathways
Breakout discussions here reflected on development actions and pathway-related mechanisms.
All delegates urged and emphasised that climate adaptation and resilience must be rights-based, in relation to those who choose to migrate, those who choose not to, and those who cannot. Discussions highlighted the need for locally laid development and mitigation measures that centre local needs over and above the priorities of states, and urged early intervention and mitigation to ensure rights. “The right to stay is extremely important, which is why building climate resilience is central,” said one delegate. “States need to act before migration happens – people have to choose to migrate, or it’s already too late.”
In relation to those who choose to migrate as an adaptation or who are forced to move due to climate events, discussions focused on the need for states to take measures to facilitate movement and ensure their safety and protection. “In these instances, states must treat borders as bridges rather than obstacles,” stated one delegate. Delegates here pointed to the potential for existing regional frameworks on freedom of movement to contribute to solutions. “We should look to frameworks such as ECOWAS, but we need the political will to make use of them in this context,” said one. “Any and all regional movement and residence agreements are potentially interesting solutions that would lead us closer to the free movement of people and rights-based pathways.”
Discussions also urged centring youth in the development of regular pathways, particularly in relation to the development of green skills and achieving the Just Transition, and exercising caution in any measure promoting migration as an adaptation measure that does not include commitments to decent work.
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* The Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) is a government-led initiative that brings together member states, local government, business representatives, civil society organizations and youth concerned with migration and development issues. Its goal is to discuss a range of topics on migration, propose innovative solutions, share policy ideas, and create partnerships and cooperation in an informal dialogue setting. ICMC has coordinated civil society engagement in the GFMD since 2011.
** Per the regular GFMD process, the French Chairmanship of the 2023-24 GFMD identified six thematic priorities to guide GFMD discussions and exchanges: the central theme of ‘The Impact of Climate Change on Human Mobility’, and five additional priorities (Rights, Diaspora, Labour migration, Migration narratives, and Multilevel governance).
*** The final GRT1 Background Paper was drafted by penholder Ileana-Sinziana Puscas of the International Organization for Migration, under the leadership of the three GRT1 co-chairs (Argentina, Fiji, and the GFMD Civil Society Mechanism)