In its environmental migration newsletter, 'Migration the Big Issue: Migration, Environment, Climate Change,' the International Organization for Migration (IOM) highlights four key themes: adaptation, abilities, alliances and action.
The issue considers these themes in particular relation to small island developing States (SIDS), presenting articles on disaster risk management (DRM), human mobility and climate change, partnerships and recent efforts toward solutions.
5 June 2014: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) highlights adaptation, abilities, alliances and action in its environmental migration newsletter, titled ‘Migration the Big Issue: Migration, Environment, Climate Change.’ The issue considers these themes in relation to small island developing States (SIDS), presenting articles on disaster risk management (DRM), human mobility and climate change, partnerships and recent efforts toward solutions.
“Particularly for small island states, climate change induced sea level rise bears the risk of temporary and eventually permanent displacement,” according to an article that reviews implications of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) for SIDS. AR5 suggests the need for planned migration and increased human mobility to reduce vulnerability. The article recommends more research on the potential of climate-induced migration from islands and highlights the significant potential for SIDS’ adaptation, including to changes such as sea-level rise, drying trends or extreme precipitation.
An article highlighting the European Union (EU)-sponsored project on ‘Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Evidence for Policymaking’ points out that migration can also be a means of adaptation, although it is often viewed as a result of policy failure. The EU project is organizing technical working groups of policymakers in six countries, including in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mauritius and Papua New Guinea. The groups are identifying priorities for targeted, policy-driven research, with the aim of mainstreaming migration into adaptation planning.
An interview exploring the modeling of drought-related displacement addresses the ability theme. On alliances, the newsletter features an interview with four SIDS ambassadors representing Barbados, the Maldives, New Zealand and Singapore who have created the informal ‘Geneva Working Group on SIDS’ to raise the needs of SIDS with a unified voice among the agencies and institutions located in Geneva, Switzerland.
The newsletter also highlights action in a number of ways. For instance, one article describes the adoption of a national DRM and Climate Change Policy by the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The Policy is an attempt to both prevent forced migration and ensure relative freedom in human mobility. [Migration the Big Issue: Migration, Environment, Climate Change]