The latest summit is dubbed as “Finance COP” as parties (countries) aim to agree on how to get some more cash to support the low-income climate-vulnerable in mitigation, adaptation, and the Loss and Damage Fund
We are again at the end of the year and set to sit for the 29th edition of the world’s most important and largest climate change negotiations. World leaders, policy makers, climate experts, practitioners, advocates and youth activists from nearly 200 countries are already heading to Baku, Azerbaijan to attend the UN climate summit, well known as COP29 as the event starts on Monday.
This year’s summit is popularly termed “Finance COP” as parties (countries) are aiming at agreeing on how to get some more cash to support the low-income climate-vulnerable in mitigation, adaptation, and in the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF). Among many other crucial issues, displacement, and internal and global forced migration due to climate change should have a special emphasis on the current stage of global climate negotiation.
The sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in 2023 says that “increasing adaptive capacity minimises the risk associated with involuntary migration and immobility and improves the degree of choice under which migration decisions are made”.
In line with this, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) works on climate-induced human mobility. At the international, national, regional, and local levels, the IOM takes policy and pragmatic action based on the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
Focusing on climate-induced human movement, ahead of COP29, the IOM addresses some crucial aspects to be prioritised in the climate change negotiation.
First, through the Global Goal on Adaptation and the National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), individuals, communities, and governments must accelerate adaptation planning, undertaking, and finance to foster secure, empowered, and informed decisions on human movement.
To address the issues caused by climate change, we need to support communities so that people can live safely and with respect. This means taking steps to reduce dangers, giving people timely alerts about risks, and responding quickly when problems arise. Additionally, governments should help people move to safer areas when necessary and speed up the creation of effective solutions for climate issues. Also, the governments should make sure that those who are most at risk get the financial help they need.
Second, parties should focus on implementing the pledges on human migration within the loss and damage landscape. To make the promises a reality, the involved parties need to establish clear guidelines for the LDF. This fund should ensure that migrants, displaced individuals, and refugees can easily access financial help and be part of the decision-making process.
Additionally, it is important for these parties to seek support from the Santiago Network on loss and damage. This support can help strengthen local and national efforts to address issues related to people moving due to climate change, including planned relocations and other forms of displacement.
Furthermore, to effectively incorporate the needs of people on the move into national policies, and to respond to both economic and non-economic losses brought about by human movement, and to have better access to climate finances, it is essential for the parties to evaluate the guidance provided by the task force on displacement under the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage related to climate change.
Third, parties should strengthen solidarity with countries and communities most vulnerable to climate change effects. To do so, responses to climate change should be integrated with migration governance and peace-building measures to support the climate-affected people, especially, the displaced and forcefully migrated population.
Also, the 3rd generation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) should speed up the just transition to execute robust and equitable mitigation outcomes as a pivotal measure to prevent the human migration due to climate change impacts. In this case, governments should diversify the economy and increase the scope of decent work by focusing on youths and migrant workers.
A just transition is a framework that describes the process of shifting to a sustainable economy while protecting workers’ rights and livelihoods
Fourth, the governments must enhance a whole-of-society mobilisation to ensure inclusivity. This means bringing together government, businesses, researchers, community organisations, women, young people, indigenous groups, migrants, and communities who are directly affected. In case of decision making related to climate action and migration governance, it is crucial to focus on approaches that consider children-sensitive, human rights, and gender-responsive approaches. In conclusion, the IOM’s inclusive strategy and addressed points to safeguard the climate-induced migration and displaced people assure of hearing all voices, while ensuring fair solutions are effective for all.
