Posted by Kayly Ober on March 7th, 2011 | 
Elizabeth Ferris, a senior fellow and co-director of Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement at the Brookings Institution, recently presented her
take on climate change and international
displacement at a UNHCR roundtable. She discusses her contribution below:
“While there is growing interest in the issue of climate change and displacement, there doesn’t seem to be consensus about the ‘entry point’ into the debate. Many have tried to estimate the potential scale of displacement, with widely varying results resulting from different assumptions and methodologies. Others have analyzed the legal gaps, particularly for those who cross international borders because of the effects of climate change. Still others have sought to analyze the potential for increased conflict resulting from the effects of climate change.
Continue reading this post »
Posted by Kayly Ober on March 1st, 2011 |
(Eurasia Review) March 1, 2011 – The proposition that climate change will or could generate international security concerns has become prominent in public discourse over the last few years. Governments, international organisations and NGOs have increasingly directed their attention to climate change as a likely source of conflict. Climate change is most likely to be presented as a threat multiplier, overstretching societies’ adaptive capacities
and creating or exacerbating political instability and violence. This is an updated version of predictions from the late 1980s and early 1990s that environmental degradation could contribute to various kinds of instability including civil disruption and perhaps even outright violence.
Climate Change and Conflict
The United Nations has estimated that there could be ‘millions’ of environmental migrants by 2020. Various think tanks, government agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have produced reports that argue that migration can be a major risk factor in the chain of effects that link climate change and violent conflict. The expectation is that climate migration will result in tensions between
those displaced within their own country and the communities into which they move, as well as between so-called climate ‘refugees’ (who cross an international border) and the states that receive them.
Various triggers for conflict have been identified — competition for scarce resources or economic support (or jobs); increased demands on social infrastructure; and cultural differences based on ethnicity or nationality. All of this is thought more likely in countries or regions that already suffer from other forms of social instability and that possess limited social and economic capacity to adapt.
Continue reading this post »
Posted by Dan DaSilva on February 8th, 2011 |
(The Asian Development Bank) The ADB is taking a leadership role in helping Asia ang the Pacific to mitigate the causes – and adapt to the consequences – of climate change. As part of this ongoing effort, ADB is undertaking the first international project designed to generate policy options for addressing climate-induced migration.
Contributing to Understanding Climate-induced Migration
Solid analysis and greater knowledge development and sharing on climate-induced migration are essential to inform policy makers of the issues at stake.
The ADB project, “Policy Options to Support Climate-induced Migration [ PDF ],” is sponsoring a range of activities, including:
* Formulation of country and sub-regional studies that consider past experience and future planning for climate-induced migration.
* Dialogues and workshops with experts and stakeholders concerned with
climate-induced migration.
* National and international policy options and ways to finance them.
* A range of communications drawing attention to climate-induced migration and the choices that decision makers
face in the period ahead.
The ADB project will improve the understanding of climate-induced migration, and stimulate policy debate on how to tackle the anticipated movement of millions of people due to changing weather patterns in the coming years. The ultimate aim is to encourage the adoption of responsible, foresighted policies and practices that improve management of human displacement due to climate change, and where practical, enable communities to stay where they are.
Asia and the Pacific: At the Center of Change
Confronting the challenges imposed when families and communities are uprooted and forced to migrate as a consequence of extreme weather events requires government policy that both mitigates risks and creates opportunities for affected people. This means not only looking at ways to reduce human suffering and economic loss as a consequence of disasters, but to also provide people living in precarious locations with a better chance of enjoying a sustainable livelihood with access to food, water and social services.
The number of extreme weather events is increasing. Asia and the Pacific is the region at the epicenter of weather disasters. Those most vulnerable to climate-induced migration are the poor and marginalized.
While large-scale climate-induced migration is a gradual phenomenon, communities in Asia and the Pacific are already experiencing the consequences of changing environmental conditions including eroding shorelines, desertification and more frequent severe storms and flooding.
Source: The Asian Development Bank
Posted by Kayly Ober on February 6th, 2011 |
(International Institute for Environment and Development) February 2, 2011
– Governments risk adopting policies that increase people’s
vulnerability to climate change because of a general prejudice against migration, according to research published today by the International Institute for Environment and Development.
The research, which includes case studies from Bolivia, Senegal and Tanzania, found no evidence that environmental degradation linked to climate change would result in large flows of international migrants.
Instead, social and economic factors play a bigger role in who moves, where they move and for how long — and most movements are of short durations and short distances.
“People affected by environmental degradation rarely moved across borders,” says the study’s author Dr Cecilia Tacoli. “Instead they moved to other rural areas or to local towns, often temporarily.”
“Such migrants can reduce their vulnerability by diversifying their sources of income and reducing their dependence on natural resources, but governments often view migrants as a problem and either provide little support or actively discourage them from moving.”
Continue reading this post »
Posted by Dan DaSilva on February 3rd, 2011 |
Wednesday, 9 February at 15.00 Manila/Beijing time (14.00 in Jakarta, 12.30 in Delhi)
(ADB.org) Climate-induced migration is receiving more and more attention. In the past year alone, millions of people in Asia and Australia have been displaced by severe weather events linked to climate change, some temporarily and others permanently,
giving an indication of what is to come as extreme weather events grow in number.
The new face of climate change has become vulnerable people confronted with the daunting task of either struggling to make a living in an area where disaster is almost certain to strike again, or seeking a new life in uncertain conditions, such as mega cities already struggling to cope with rising population.
You are invited to join a live online chat with two climate change specialists on Wednesday, 9 February 2011, 15.00 Manila/Beijing time (14.00 in Jakarta, 12.30 in Delhi) to discuss key issues shaping the climate-induced migration debate. Please register for the online discussion 20 minutes before the event. The webchat
panel will provide deeper insight into issues that will shape this important public policy challenge.
Robert Dobias, Head of ADB’s Climate Change Program Coordination Unit, and François Gemenne, Research Fellow at the Paris-based Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), will answer your questions on climate change and migration.
Click here for more information about the live online discusson »
Posted by Dan DaSilva on January 27th, 2011 |
(McGill editorial by Benoît Mayer) January 21, 2011 – The 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (Cancun, 29 November – 10 December) has reflected a growing concern of the international community for migrations induced by climate change, which is going to affect hundreds of millions of persons in the next decades. Several civil society initiatives attempted to raise awareness on this topic. For instance, the IIED, Bread for the World and UNU organized a conference of fieldworkers and experts on “Climate Change and Forced Migrations.” A petition for a “New UN Protocol for Climate Forced Migrants” was also presented by international civil society leaders led by the Bangladeshi NGO “Equibybd.” In the diplomatic arena, following a proposal by the Group 77 and China, the “Cancun Agreements” invited States to adopt “[m]easures to enhance understanding, coordination and cooperation with regard to climate change induced displacement, migration and planned relocation, where appropriate, at national, regional and international levels.” This first reference to migrations within the legal framework on climate change is a great achievement, even though such abstract language is unlikely to lead to concrete international action in the short term.
Continue reading this post »
|
|
