The United Nations Climate Change Conference starts tomorrow in Cancun and runs for two weeks. I am travelling right now where internet is limited so I will try my best keep the blog updated. I will be in Cancun during the second week to attend and cover a few of the related meetings. Below are some of the migration and displacement side events happening at COP16. If you know of any other events please contact me and I will add them to this post.

Displacement and migration: Examples of initiatives and activities to support resilience and adaptation
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Tuesday, November 30 – 18:30—20:00
This event will focus on national and sub-national level policy and programme implementation, including assistance in the development of policies on displacement and climate change; advocacy on displacement; and dissemination of tools that specifically target vulnerable communities such as refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants.

Climate change and forced migration (organized with Bread for the World and UNU)
Stockholm Environemntal Istitiute/IIED/IISD
Part of the “Development and Climate Days at COP-16″
Sunday, December 5 – Day Two – 1:30 pm – 3pm. By RSVP only.
- Chair: Koko Warner, UNU
- Ferdausur Rahman, Network on Climate Change in Bangladesh (NCCB)
- Peter Emberson, the Pacific Conference of Churches
- Isabel Cruz Hernández, Mexican Association of Credit Unions from the Social Sector
- Resettlement needs in Papua New Guinea, Sophia Wirshing, Bread for the World
- Africa presentation tbc

Rights for climate induced forced migrants : Responsibility of international community
Coastal Association for Social Transformation Trust (COAST Trust)
Monday, December 6 -16:45—18:15
There will be 2 billion displaced people due to climate induced problems, alone in Bangladesh these figure will be 30 millions by the year 2010, they should have rights to life and livelihood in view different UN convenants.

Climate Change, Environment and Migration Alliance (CCEMA): understanding impacts and finding solutions
International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Wednesday, December 8 – 15:00—16:30
IOM, UNU and other CCEMA partners highlight key questions and challenges for migration and displacement. Delegates and experts discuss proactive approaches for policy and practice in the context of climate change and adaptation, with relevant case studies.

An image from the London Futures exhibition showing Buckingham palace surrounded by a vast shantytown. Photo credit: Jason Hawkes/Museum of London

(The Guardian) October 27, 2010 - The effects of climate change are so hard to imagine that we should welcome an exhibition of Postcards from the Future that promises “Images that bring ideas to life and frame the climate debate in a way that everyone can understand”. Unfortunately the debate it frames is dangerous and the main reason that it can be readily understood is that it fits all too easily with existing prejudices.

The pictures are artfully composed photomontages that juxtapose iconic London landmarks with eye-catching climate impacts – for example the Household Cavalry ride down a sand-strewn Whitehall on camels; an oil palm plantation grows in Hyde Park; and people skate on the Thames after the Gulf Stream packs in.

The creators, Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones, assure us that they “researched different scientific projections”. Really? Not one of these images reflects any real climate scenario for London. They are pure science-fiction.

Certainly they are striking and win attention, but at a price. Public acceptance of climate change is still weak and 55% of people believe that climate change has been exaggerated for political ends. Fantasy images actively feed that public denial and with it the widespread assumption that climate change is conjectural and without firm basis in fact.

However the greatest concern with this show is not that it parts with reality, but that it speaks all too well to real prejudices against immigrants “swamping” British culture. This is a recurring theme. One postcard shows Asian peasants working in paddy fields in the shadow of Big Ben. Two postcards in the series show shantytowns around Nelson’s Columnand Buckingham Palace.

These images cause deep disquiet for those who work with refugees and immigrants. Jonathan Ellis, policy director at the Refugee Council, calls them “lazy and unhelpful” at a time when “we need fresh and creative messages, and a fair and rational debate based on the facts”.

“Producing sensationalist pictures which fall back on cheap stereotypes of refugees do not help anyone’s cause,” says Vaughan Jones, the chief executive of Praxis, a London-based charity that provides practical support for refugees and asylum seekers. “The issue is too serious for this inaccurate treatment.”

Hannah Smith from the Climate Outreach Information Network runs a programme that brings together over 30 refugee, human rights and environment organisations. She argues that the images give an entirely erroneous impression and that “the actual patterns of migration are far more likely to be the movement of people inside existing national borders, or, in the case of the UK, from within the European Union. To suggest that there will be mass migration from the [global] south is misleading and feeds xenophobia.”

These concerns are exacerbated by the language used in the captions. The caption for the Buckingham Palace shantytown talks of the royal family being surrounded by “overwhelming numbers of immigrants”. Another caption, for a picture of monkeys on the balustrade of St Paul’s Cathedral describes them as “a new breed of tropical immigrants reminiscing about equatorial days”. This is a misapplication of language that Hannah Smith regards as deeply insulting.

When I look at the postcards from the perspective of refugee organisations these criticisms seem entirely sensible and self-evident. And they raise a fascinating question: why did the cover story of “climate change” permit the enthusiastic promotion of images and language that would be normally be considered unacceptable in a public exhibition?

One reason is that we have already come to “frame” climate change in this way. Impacts are invariably presented as the crude data of square kilometres flooded or numbers of people displaced. There is still a painful lack of elaboration or analysis of the real political and social impacts of these changes – who will be affected, how will they adapt and where will they go.

This in turn reflects the disturbingly limited range of voices that can be heard talking about climate change. While environmentalists have dominated the public discourse from the outset, it has only been in the past five years that development organisations and unions have become involved.

Human rights and refugee organisations are only now fully recognising the importance of climate change and they are struggling to find their niche and be heard on the issue. “We operate under such constant pressures, both internally and externally, that we have been in the bunker for far too long”, says Jonathan Ellis.

Even the core term “climate refugee”, used universally by environmental organisations and throughout the postcard captions, is inaccurate, argues Vaughan Jones. It took decades of hard campaigning to get refugees protected under international law and “the term must be preserved as a legal status for those fleeing persecution”.

None of this is to doubt the sincerity of the photo-artists or those organising the exhibition. Nor does it imply that climate change is so complex that it cannot be communicated to the general public. All it shows is that climate change is a challenging area, framed by denial, guilt and discrimination, that requires the same intelligence and sensitivity as any exhibition on gender, race or class.

Source: The Guardian

This year, World Humanitarian Day comes at a time when the international humanitarian community has been called upon to assist the countless number of people affected by the devastating floods in Pakistan, which some are calling the worst humanitarian disaster in recent history.

Below is The 2010 World Humanitarian Day project. It is a collaborative film shot in over 40 countries in under 9 weeks, on a shoestring budget – with the goal of showing the enormous diversity of places, faces and endeavors of humanitarian aid workers in 2010. It was filmed by humanitarian staff and freelance filmmakers from around the globe (over 50 contributors in total) with all time donated.

The seminar features renowned experts from governments, the United Nations system, the International Organization for Migration, other international organizations and civil society. Following their presentations, participants have an opportunity to engage in in-depth discussions with the speakers.

The event is targeted to members of permanent missions to the United Nations in New York, who work on climate change, migration or development issues, as well as those in civil society with academic or professional interest in the topic. Visit the website for more information and to register.

The Center for American Progress in Washington, DC is hosting an event entitled “The Global Implications of Climate Migration” on March 1, 2010, 10:00am – 11:30am. Speakers will discuss the intersection of climate change, development, and human migration. Here is the brief summary about the event from thier website:

It is inevitable that as global warming intensifies hurricanes, exacerbates drought, and adds to resource shortages, we will need to prepare for extreme conditions and responses, and this includes human migration. Some estimates suggest that as many as 200 million people could become climate migrants by 2050. The panelists will therefore discuss the implications of climate migration with regard to adaptation strategies, frameworks for addressing internal and international movements, and new, comprehensive strategies to deal with unique challenges.

The featured speakers include:

Neil Levine, Director, Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation, USAID
Susan Martin, Herzberg Professor of International Migration, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
David Waskow, Climate Change Program Director, Oxfam America

Moderated by:
Michael Werz, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

Click here for more information and to watch the live webcast on the day of the event.

(Blog Action Day) “Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be the largest-ever social change event on the web. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices.

Why climate change? Climate change affects us all and it threatens more than the environment. It threatens to cause famine, flooding, war, and millions of refugees.

Given the urgency of the issue of climate change and the upcoming international climate negotiations in Copenhagen this December, we think the blogosphere has the unique opportunity to mobilize millions of people around expressing support for finding a sustainable solution to the climate crisis.

From the smallest online journals to huge online magazines, Blog Action Day is about mass participation. Anyone is free to join in on Blog Action Day and there is no limit on the number of posts, the type of posts or the direction of thoughts and opinions.”

Get involved with Blog Action Day 2009 »

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Source: Blog Action Day

This first panel of two goes for about an hour and twenty minutes. The speakers included:

Susan F. Martin – Director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University

Koko Warner – Head of the Environmental Migration, Social Vulnerability, and Adaptation Section at the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)

Hansjoerg Strohmeyer – Chief of the Policy Development and Studies Branch, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Thomas Loster – Chairman Munich Re Foundation

Frank Laczko – Head of Research, International Organization of Migration (IOM)

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Source: UNU-ONY

Date: Thursday, September 24, 2009
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m, Eastern time (UTC/GMT -5 hours)
Venue: The Simon Wiesenthal Center/New York Tolerance Center, New York City
Webcast registration: Click here to register for the event to watch the live webcast. When you register for the event, you will receive a confirmation email with the online location of the webcast.

First Panel:
Emerging Policy Perspectives on Human Mobility in a Changing Climate
10:00am – 11:30am

Climate change and associated environmental degradation hold the potential to displace millions of people in coming decades. Estimates of the likely number of people who may be affected by environmental migration vary widely and there have been few efforts to date to systematically analyze the triggers, patterns and policy implications of such trends. An emerging body of inter-disciplinary research is beginning to look at key aspects of these issues with the aim of helping policy makers to make informed decisions on how to prepare for, prevent or respond to climate change related human mobility in an effective manner.

Second Panel:
Seal the Deal: How Risk Reduction and Insurance Strengthen the Adaptation Package in a Copenhagen Agreement
11:30am – 1:00pm

The Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII) was launched by Munich Re in April 2005 in response to the growing realization that insurance-related solutions can play a role in adaptation to climate change, as advocated in the Framework Convention and the Kyoto Protocol. This initiative brings together insurers, experts on climate change and adaptation, NGOs, and policy researchers intent on finding solutions to the risks posed by climate change. MCII provides a forum and gathering point for insurance-related expertise on climate change impact issues.

The session seeks to build a network among organizations and initiatives for insurance-related approaches, and to identify pilot projects for the application of insurance-related solutions. Finally, it should facilitate discussion of how to promote loss reduction measures in connection with climate-related events.

For more information and to register for the online event, please visit the UNU-ONY’s website.

Photo credit: UNFCC

Here is an update for those of you that are following the lead up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) this December. More than 2,000 representatives met at the latest round of the Climate Change Talks, which took place on August 10-14. The committee had the current revised version of the negotiating text in front of them, which is to be fully agreed on by COP15 in order for a post-Kyoto climate deal to take place.

There was a single sentence that was inserted in the previous version of the negotiating text proposed at the June Climate Change Talks, which relates to environmental migration. It calls on nations to implement plans to adapt to climate change by accounting for these possible migrations. This sentence was found in subparagraph 25(e) and stated at the time:

“Activities related to national and international migration/planned relocation of climate
refugees.”

Since then, subparagraph 25(e) has been updated/expanded to the following:

“[Activities related to national and international migration/planned relocation of climate
[refugees] [migrants] [displaced persons by extreme climate events].]

Alternatives to subparagraph 25 (e):
Alternative 1
[Activities related to national and international responses to people displaced by the impacts of climate change]
Alternative 2
[Activities related to national and international migration and displacement or planned relocation of persons affected by adverse impact of climate change]
Alternative 3
[Activities related to national and international migration/planned relocation of displaced individuals and peoples due to the adverse effects of climate change]“

It should be noted that every entry in the negotiating text which is contained in [square brackets] is an indication that it’s an unresolved issue. As you can see, there is still no solid agreement on this specific entry in the negotiating document. Instead, many still unagreed alternative sentences are presented.

Briefing the media on the last day of the informal consultations in Bonn, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said that while selective progress had been made to consolidate the huge texts on the table, “at this rate, we will not make it”. “We seem to be afloat on a sea of brackets”, de Boer also said, referring to not only paragraph 25(e), but also the other unresolved issues in the text.

Work on the draft negotiating text will continue on September 28 in Bangkok at a two-week session. Delegates will then assemble for five days of pre-Copenhagen negotiations in Barcelona on November 2. The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen takes place from December 7-18, 2009. Do you think there will be a formal agreement made in time regarding the provision and financing mechanisms to protect people displaced by the impacts of climate change?

Related Links:
» [Square brackets] riddle 200 page text at Bonn informal talks – Examiner.com
» Gloomy Negotiators End Bonn Climate Talks – New York Times
» Closing Press Briefing, Bonn Climate Change Talks – August 2009 – YouTube video
» More From the Bonn Climate Change Talks – Towards Recognition

There will be live streaming video all day from refugee and settlement camps in Chad, Pakistan, Iraq, and Columbia. “For the first time in history, the world will be able to witness refugee camp life – real time, LIVE. If you have ever been moved or interested in the world of refugees, this is your chance to reach out to them in a global show of support!” (refugeedaylive.org).

You can either watch the stream below or go the World Refugee Day Live site to view the schedule and participate in an interactive chat.