Bringing Climate Migration Voices into Global Spaces

In 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that while adaptation to climate change remains both possible and essential, the window is fast closing as “limits to adaptation will be reached in more systems, as global warming increases.” IPCC’s assessment report cites growing evidence that climate hazards and variability are directly causing displacement, and are contributing to migration – often into other vulnerable situations – as a coping strategy. It also notes that not all households and communities are able to move out of harm’s way, even as the climate risks that they face continue to grow.

Since 2018, the Climate, Migration, and Displacement Platform (CMDP) has reflected the voices and needs of climate-impacted communities and of migrants and displaced persons in relevant global policy processes. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) has partnered with CMDP to increase the visibility of these concerns – and potential ways forward – with governments and other audiences during two major global events in June 2023, theBonn Climate Change Conference and the 53rd session of theUN Human Rights Council.

In April and May 2023, FES and CMDP members convened four regional consultations on climate change, human mobility, and human rights. Through in-person and virtual activities, these consultations brought together nearly 100 participants from civil society networks, research organizations, and frontline communities in Africa, Latin America, the Pacific, and South and Southeast Asia. Each consultation produced a regional brief that discusses the climate change context and existing laws, policies, or programs relevant to climate-induced migration, displacement, and planned relocation; and names key gaps, given the challenges facing impacted communities, along with recommendations to fill these gaps. These are summarized in a CMDP global brief and highlights note.

A delegation (see bios below), including representatives from each of the four regional consultations, is now bringing forth these priorities to decision-makers in Bonn and Geneva. Delegates are highlighting how climate change is directly impacting families, communities, and vulnerable groups in their countries and regions, and what actions governments and UN agencies can take to ensure human rights are upheld – including rights for people on the move because of climate change, and the right to stay and adapt in place for as long as possible.

In July and August, delegates will report back to regional consultation participants on their experiences in Bonn and Geneva, and continue to identify ways to strengthen regional platforms for advocating in relevant international forums, includingCOP28, the upcoming Regional Reviews of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), as well as with regional bodies and national authorities. CMDP and FES will also host a follow-on dialogue between delegates and broader audiences, in an upcoming CMDP quarterly platform call.

For more information, please contact:

FES – Salome Lienert, Program Officer Human Rights and Development, FES Geneva

CMDP – Andrew Fuys, CMDP steering group, afuys(at)cwsglobgal.org