COP29 Focuses on Climate Migration as Warming Planet Displaces Millions – Global Issues
BAKU, Nov 20 (IPS) – Migration is increasing as the planet gets hotter. Climate change is causing a migration crisis and millions of people in vulnerable countries are being displaced from their homes. Climate and migration are undeniable and the global community has turned to the Baku climate talks for urgent and sustainable solutions.
Gochi Daniels, Deputy Director General of Operations at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) spoke to IPS about human migration due to the impact of climate change and its different dimensions, such as migration due to disasters, labor migration, and planned migration. . He also spoke about the magnitude of this serious problem, as almost 26 million people were left homeless due to the impact of climate change in the last year alone.
“This impact destroys people’s health. The farms they used to cultivate no longer work and the land can no longer support their livestock. Therefore, people leave to look for work opportunities in other places. Then there is organized migration, which IOM supports governments. To do. When governments know that certain communities it will no longer be able to adapt as the impact of the climate is so great that it will have to move, rather than waiting for the impact of the climate to happen and perhaps not being able to plan for it. , governments plan for it.
It emphasizes that climate displacement will become one of the biggest global problems, as the World Bank estimates that “216 million people will be displaced due to climate impacts by 2050 and that they will be displaced from their countries. About 1 billion people live in the most climate-vulnerable areas. Trends show that when people are displaced, it’s often because of a combination of many things that haven’t been done, there’s no way for the community to absorb the shock of extreme weather.”
Daniels notes that with developing COPs, each year is also becoming the hottest in recorded history and there are more natural disasters such as heat waves, droughts, floods and hurricanes. To say that these problems are becoming more and more a reality of life for more and more people. Continuing to refer to the recent floods in Spain, in addition to all the disasters that have occurred in developing countries. In turn, this increases awareness of the impact of climate change on people.
“Of the estimated 216 million people who will migrate by 2050, almost half of them are in Africa – 86 million in sub-Saharan Africa and 19 million in North Africa. Africa is the most vulnerable among all other development problems on the continent And we know that, looking at Africa alone, water stress will affect 700 million people by 2030. The fact is that we are dealing with the impact of climate. We had unprecedented floods in Nigeria this year – there are Chad and Central African Republic and the Eastern Horn of Africa have faced similar incidents in recent times, and we have El Niño and La Niña in South Africa,” he explained.
Daniels says that they are motivated and satisfied because the human movement is integrated with the presentations of the Global Goal on Adaptation and that they are united about this issue. There is also the Kampala Declaration on Migration, Environment and Climate Change, which has already been signed by more than 40 countries in Africa and regional groups in the Pacific Islands and all islands have prioritized this issue as it is an existing reality.
“As the IOM, our presence at the COP is to support member countries in increasing visibility and awareness of the link between climate change and migration and migration. Having said that, in the middle of the negotiations, and we are still waiting to see what will come out, we hope that this continues. We count on the member countries to do the assurance that the impact on vulnerable communities is visible, that vulnerable communities are prioritized for climate finance, and that migration is considered a good coping strategy,” Daniels noted.
He insists that “when we talk about migration, we should also know that as things stand, migrants, in legal and illegal ways, take out billions of dollars a year. And most of that goes to developing and middle-income countries. And when I met with foreigners at the COP last year, they said to me, ‘We’re paying for the loss and damage now.’ We have seen that remittances have remained strong since COVID-19 and continue to rise. So here at the COP, it’s not just the recognition of climate change and migration, which has been in the resolution covered at least in the last three COPs. But it’s also about integrating this into different tools and methods, whether it’s funding or references.”
Continuing to talk about the operation of the Loss and Damage Fund. That although there are 64 funds around the world that are specific to climate, the Loss and Damage Fund is the only one that has a window that is specific to vulnerable communities. As member countries continue their discussions, IOM is looking forward to solutions, for example, that improve access to climate finance, ensuring that in a new way of financing, the loss and damage fund supports vulnerable communities to be able to adapt or migrate safely. Emphasizing the need for regional cooperation to manage climate-related migration and how climate-related migration affects national adaptation plans.
“Importantly, vulnerable communities. need to be part of the solutions. They need to be at the table where these decisions are made. IOM is one of the – actually the only UN organization – which is one of the independent organizations that support. the participation of those most affected to have a voice at the well-managed table is an adaptation strategy Migration and this will continue.
“We have the tools. We know what the solutions are. There is a global agreement on migration, which is how countries have agreed to work together to better manage migration and better governance of migration. So, because we know that migration has shaped our history and that it will shape our future, we have no excuses of uncertainty that it is safe, decent, and normal Whatever we don’t do, smugglers and traffickers will do.
Emphasizing that in the process, there will be many deaths, “We will have many weaknesses, and the business model and the smuggling industry will continue to grow. Therefore, the urgency of climate action is here and now and it really is. there is no excuse why we do not work together. The solutions are there.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
