Posted by Kayly Ober on October 5th, 2011 | 
The Migration Policy Institute released a report titled “Climate Change and Migration Dynamics.” The report takes a look at the myriad ways climate can affect migration patterns — “rising sea levels, higher surface temperatures, disruption of the hydrological cycle, and more frequent severe weather events. Whether singly or in combination, these forces will have a profound effect on human settlement patterns, food and water security, the spread of water- or vector-borne diseases, and competition for nonextractive resources (possibly leading to conflict). Each of these can lead to migration directly, as people try to escape the negative effects, or indirectly, as people flee resulting violent conflict or political instability.”
It offers ways to combat more damaging negative effects by: preserving and restoring rural livelihoods and natural amenities, focusing on food security by bolstering agricultural techniques that are less inefficient and water-heavy, and investing in community-based analysis and adaptation through existing mechanisms like the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
“For the near term, palliative actions such as humanitarian assistance and small-scale relocation seem much more likely than long-term preventative and adaptive action,” concludes the report. “Policy responses to the multiple impacts of climate change need to proceed on several tracks at once, with different temporal frameworks.”
Read more of its recommendations in-depth here.
Posted by Kayly Ober on September 26th, 2011 |
Pacific Island countries are internationally regarded as a barometer for the early impacts of climate change. Their geophysical characteristics, demographic patterns and location in the Pacific Ocean make them particularly vulnerable to the effects of global warming. Small Island Developing States, a UN-established category which includes most Pacific Island countries, are characterized by a high ratio of shoreline to land, low elevation, settlement patterns concentrated in coastal areas and a narrow economic basis—all of which put them at heightened risk. Perhaps more than in any other region, the populations and governments of Pacific Island countries are keenly aware that they face severe and multifaceted risks as a result of climate change. Their lives and livelihoods are linked to the Pacific Ocean; rising sea levels and other effects of global warming threaten not only their physical assets and coastal zones, but also their way of life and perhaps their national identities.
In the Pacific Islands, this acute awareness of the potential impact of climate change comes not only from books and studies, but from first-hand knowledge and ongoing experiences with the effects of the world’s changing climate. The value and relevance of these experiences are not confined to the Pacific Islands, but are relevant for the world at large. This paper aims to conceptualize and distill some dimensions of these experiences, in light of the discussions and presentations made at the ‘Regional Workshop on Internal Displacement caused by Natural Disasters and Climate Change in the Pacific’ (May 2011) organized by the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement in conjunction with the UN Humanitarian team in the Pacific. The synthesis report on the workshop’s proceedings contains additional information in support of the issues outlined and examined in the paper “On the Front Line of Climate Change and Displacement: Learning From and With Pacific Island Countries.”
Posted by Kayly Ober on September 13th, 2011 |
(World Policy Blog) September 12, 2011 - In the 1990s, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change asserted that “climate migrants” would be one of the most dire consequences of climate change. This, at times contentious argument, centers on how climate change acts as a “threat multiplier,” exacerbating existing environmental and social factors that drive migration.
A precise correlation is difficult to draw. But by 2050, climate impacts—flooding, erosion, and extreme weather events—are expected to displace between 50 million and one billion people.
The international community has rightly increased its attention on the issue. Some experts argue that migration is simply a failure to adapt to climate change. Strategies should focus on helping people adapt “in situ,” or find sustainable ways to remain where they are.
In many cases, this is an appropriate response, but that’s not always possible. What happens when staying put threatens survival?
If our nomadic forbears have taught us anything, it is that remaining in one place is not always a good idea. There has been far less discussion on what we call “climate immobility,” how populations affected by climate change may not have the means (or the ability) to move to less vulnerable places—even when their survival depends on it.
Continue reading this post »
Posted by Kayly Ober on September 13th, 2011 |
On November 10-11, 2011 the University of New South Wales will host “Climate Change and Migration in the Asia-Pacific: Legal and Policy Responses” at NSW Parliament House in Sydney.
This two-day conference will bring together leading international experts, policymakers, and government officials from affected countries to discuss:
- Conceptualizing climate change-related movement
- The nature of movement: what does the evidence tell us?
- International legal frameworks
- International governance
- Adaptation and ‘migration with dignity’
- Relocation and land tenure
- Climate change migration and (human) security
- Institutional responses: where to from here?
Register online: http://www.gtcentre.unsw.edu.au/events/climate-change-and-migration-asia-pacific-legal-and-policy-responses
Cost: $150 for both days (including lunch, morning tea & afternoon tea). Single day registration is not possible.
Contact: gtcentre@unsw.edu.au
Posted by Dan DaSilva on September 10th, 2011 |
(Inter Press Service) September 9, 2010 – MEXICO CITY, “We planted our seeds, but the earth is no longer productive. We’ve had too much rain, even more than last year, and the harvest was ruined,” says Ermelinda Santiago of the Me’phaa indigenous people, who like everyone else in the village of Francisco I. Madero has been affected by the impact of extreme weather on agriculture in southern Mexico.
The 25-year-old woman is one of thousands of native people who migrate every year from the municipality of Tlapa and its surroundings in the southern state of Guerrero, to pick fruit and vegetables in the north of the country.
Tlapa, one of the poorest places in Mexico, is ravaged by deforestation, intermittent drought and torrential rains, so that farming is not an economically viable occupation for local people.
Regions like Tlapa illustrate the possible relationship between climate change and migration, an issue that is coming under scrutiny in Mexico, a country that is vulnerable to the effects of phenomena like prolonged droughts, soil degradation, devastating rainstorms, lack of water and rising sea levels.
Continue reading this post »
Posted by Dan DaSilva on September 10th, 2011 |
Eurasylum (www.eurasylum.org) has just released its new monthly policy interview, featuring Ms. Margareta Wahlström, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction. The interview is on: “Climate change and migration: the latest evidence”.
The interview can be accessed here.
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