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Urgent call to address climate induced mobility

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Ethiopia – Addis Ababa
By Reginald Tapfumaneyi

The IOM and the governments of Portugal, Mozambique and Kenya have held a side-line meeting at the on-going 36th Ordinary Summit of the African Union in Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa, to explore and address the impact of unique connections between climate change and migration.

Running under the theme “The Climate-Migration Nexus: How to Respond to Environment Degradation, Protect People, and Uphold the potential of Migration,” the side event was attended by the Director General of International Organization for Migration (IOM) H.E António Vitorino, Portuguese Foreign Affairs Minister João Gomes Cravinho, Mozambique Minister of land and Environment, Ivete Mabaize and other delegates.

In a speech delivered by Ms Angela Martins, AU Director of Social Development, Sport and Culture on behalf of Ambassador Cessouma Minata Samate, the African Union Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development (HHS), ambassador Simate applauded the AU for supporting climate partnership initiatives.

“The Africa Union Assembly took a ground-breaking decision to support the establishment of a partnership platform called African Climate Mobility Initiative (ACMI) and directed the African Union Commission to take a lead in coordinating partners’ efforts.

“This is also out of the realization that if nothing is done in Africa, the climate induced forced mobility will seriously antagonize the AU Agenda 2063 aspiration -1 which underscores sustainable development,” reiterated Ambassador Simate.

She acknowledged that the establishment of the African Climate Mobility Initiative was due to the realization of a strong nexus between Climate Change and Migration.

“It is therefore our considered view that the initiative to focus on environmental effects to the migrants and mobile populations comes at an opportune time – a time when the global community is not only concerned about the adverse climatic conditions on socio-economic sector of our life but also that a number of transformative policy actions to address environmental impact are mooted and executed.

“We are also guided by the continental instrument, the African Union Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy and Action Plan 2022-2032 which underscores the importance of focusing on social development issues such as social protection mechanisms which have significant potential to improve or support households’ adaptation to climate change,” she said.

Ambassador Simate called upon Governments to invest in climate change adaptation and mitigation, bear the costs of reconstruction and mediate conflicts over scarce resources, while safeguarding democratic transitions, addressing security threats, managing internal displacement dynamics, and welcoming those who seek for some time a safer location in the African spirit of UBUNTU.

Speaking during the meeting, Roselinda Soipan Tuya, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change, and Forestry of the Republic of Kenya explained how climate change was affecting Africa as a continent.

“Climate change has become a major concern for the International community.  In 1990, the first Intergovernmental report on climate Change stated that ‘the gravest effects of climate change may be those on human migration as millions will be displaced’. Due to Climate Change, an increasing number of people are being forced to flee their homes.

“Climate Change should be considered not just as a development but also a security problem. The main reason for this, is that Climate Change-related extreme weather events cause disasters, and that Climate change is a threat multiplier for conflicts as it increases the struggle for scarce natural resources,” bemoaned Tuya.

IOM Director General, António Vitorino, also weighed in outlining the importance of building resilience and adaptation to climate shocks that are a major driver of displacement and forced migration.

“I commend Africa for keeping the problem on the public’s radar as many countries in the region, including small island nations in particular, were suffering from the negative consequences of climate change,” applauded Vitorino.

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