From Science to Policy and Action: Human Mobility in Times of Climate Change

Thursday 11 November 2021 | 14:00 – 15:00 Geneva time
Register for the EU Pavilion Events Portal to gain access to this event

 

Large-scale movements of people, driven by a number of factors including climate change, affect regions across the world. Countries such as Pacific Island States, and marginalised communities such as children and youth, are particularly impacted. Displacement related to the adverse effects of climate change should in principle be averted or minimised, unless it is life-saving (e.g. evacuations). It creates humanitarian challenges, affects human rights, undermines development and may, in some situations, affect human security.

The need for robust action and support to avert, minimise and address displacement is evidenced by the best available science, which tells us that we are already living in a climate emergency. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement, including the work of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage Associated with Climate Change Impacts (WIM) and its Task Force on Displacement (TFD), offer a framework for action. But how is science and policy linked? And, crucially, how does this impact those most affected by climate change?

It aims to provide an improved awareness and understanding of:

• the best available science related to human mobility in a changing climate, and how science can and should inform policy;
• the need for coherent and integrated approaches to policy development to address the opportunities and challenges related to human mobility;
• effective practices for addressing human mobility, their challenges and lessons learned; and
• the disproportionate impacts of climate change on children and youth in particular, as well as other affected communities, including on their mobility and opportunities for personal development.

 

Speakers

• Dr. Kira Vinke, German Council on Foreign Relations and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
• Mrs Julia Blocher, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and International Youth Federation
• Mr. Ahmad Yazan Miri, Youth4Nature
• Mr Nacanieli Bolo, Pacific Response to Disaster Displacement Project (IDMC)
• The Pacific Island Forum Secretariat
• The Government of Fiji

The event will be moderated by Mr François Gemenne of The Hugo Observatory.