Climate Change, Migration & Displacement:
New perspectives on regional approaches to climate-induced migration, displacement and relocation – Tuesday, 16 May from 1:15 – 2:45 p.m.
United Nations Headquarters
Conference Room 8
***
Event open to all UN badge holders. External guests who did not RSVP before 9 May, please watch live on Webcast at http://webtv.un.org
***
Internationally-led policy approaches to addressing climate change-related migration and displacement have advanced, notably through UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) processes and the ambitions agreed in the 2016 New York Declaration. Recent research, however, provides evidence that bottom-up regional and local approaches provide more fruitful venues for addressing larger, more difficult political issues that enable or hinder movement. Regional approaches can enhance national and local efforts to support communities facing the gradual (but certain) inhabitability of their areas of origin, such as those affected by sea-level rise, prolonged drought, or recurrent sudden-onset natural hazards. For example, many Pacific communities are currently developing circular labour migration schemes, preparing cross-border community relocations, and developing regional policy frameworks for climate-induced displacement and statelessness.
In the context of regional consultations in support of negotiations for a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, this seminar will consider these issues through a number of empirical studies and good practices. Panellists will consider: how can regional approaches best contribute to practical measures to address climate change and migration – especially through agreements to promote seasonal work arrangements, protections for displaced people, and planned relocations or resettlements? What opportunities and limitations exist in different contexts around the world? How can the progressive interrelation between climate change, human rights and human mobility advance the implementation of climate policies (the Paris Agreement, the non-economic component of the UNFCCC Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, the states-led Platform for Disaster Displacement (the follow-up the Nansen Initiative on cross-border disaster displacement)?
Panelists:
• Dr Cosmin Corendea, United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)
• Dr Tamer Afifi, German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF)
• Dr Bishawjit Mallick, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Oxford University
• Dr Susana Adamo, Centre for International Earth Science Information Network at the Earth Institute, Columbia
• Dr Maxine Burkett, University of Hawaii School of Law
Moderators
• Ms Julia Blocher, United Nations University (UNU) Office in New York
• Dr James Cockayne, Head of the United Nations University (UNU) Office in New York
This event is part of the United Nations University (UNU) ‘Panel Series on Academic Thinking on Migration’, convened by the UNU Office in New York (UNU-ONY) and the UNU Migration Network. Against the backdrop of thematic consultations feeding into negotiations for a Global Compact on Safe, Regular and Orderly Migration, UNU is convening this series to help diplomatic communities in New York engage with the latest academic research and thinking on relevant migration policy issues.