 because our regional director of gentle North America and the Caribbean and she needs to speak because we don't have a time. Me too. So I'm very happy to pass down the floor to the next panel and to have Michelle Klein Salomon who is one of the founders, I think, or the mom of the IDM. So you have the floor, Michelle. I thank you so much and the panel should start now with you. Thank you so much. Bye, everyone. Thank you, Dean, for being here. Thank you all for joining us. Dina said I'm Michelle Klein Salomon. I am currently, I know I'm regional director for Central and North American, the Caribbean. But as she said, I've been affiliated with the IDM since its inception and have watched with great joy its growth development and depth. And I am so happy to be moderating this final session focused on the issues that Dina just identified, specifically promoting and supporting regional, national and local action on migration, environment and climate change. And we are blessed today to have six speakers on this panel representing not only different parts of the world, but different segments of society, a mayor at the local level. And I'm gonna turn to you in just a moment, your worshipful Madam Sawyer. We also have representatives of two of the main, what we call regional consultative processes on migration, the discussion for the bring governments together to talk about migration and to show good examples of integration of this theme into their discussions. We have representatives of national government and what they're doing at the national level to implement in their national climate change adaptation strategy, these kinds of considerations. I'm delighted to have our partner from UN Habitat, a very valued UN collaborator with us here to talk about how to link cities and these discussions. And finally, I'm thrilled to have with us, Madam Fatiha Alwan, the director of health and social development of IGAD, another one of the regional processes. But let me turn because we have a very full agenda and some superb participants and speakers. Like with the others, what we'd like to do is to first offer to each of our six speakers. And I'm going to change the order of the speaking in a moment panelists, so beware. But to have no more than seven minutes per person, a brief introduction with your key points about really how to engage the different partners, the different stakeholders and mechanisms for really making this work. And then turn back to you and to the floor for questions and answers to make this as interactive as possible. Let me first offer the floor to her worship, Yvonne Akisoya, the mayor of Freetown Sierra Leone. Madam mayor, we're so pleased to have you with us today to share your vision and action on migration and climate change very much from the perspective of a local authority and one that is a major African urban center, Freetown, one of the largest cities in all of Africa and how you envision priorities for the forthcoming climate conference in terms of local level engagement and action on climate change with a direct impact on migrants and communities. And then we said the outset of this that IOM is very much focused on creating inclusive multilateralism. So not just the states at the national level, but very much the stakeholders and actors at the local level as well. Madam, your worship, Yvonne Akisoya, you have the floor over to you. Thank you. Thank you very much. And I must start off by making a correction. I wouldn't describe Freetown as one of the larger urban centers. We're 1.5 million people, nowhere near Lagos or Nairobi. But perhaps one of the reasons that the conversation is happening is because we have been very focused on climate and on migration and for good reason. So we are seeing, we saw an initial almost doubling of our population in the city as a result of the Civil War. And then in the years that followed with Ebola and then with climate, we've seen a continued exponential increase. And this has had a devastating impact, really, on the city's ability to manage that and to continue to deliver services to its residents and to ensure the quality of life of those who come to the city, as well as those who were in the city before, can be maintained. So there is an urgent need to look at the issues of migration. And when we speak of migration, we actually make a distinction and put as much importance on rural urban migration, in-country migration, and sit that alongside, because we see it as a continuum. Someone moving from the countryside, from the rural areas, because of climate change, because of lost harvest or inability to no longer make a living, comes to the city. And if they find that unwelcoming as difficult to life, then there is the tendency and the temptation to make the much more dangerous step towards irregular migration overseas. So they're different, but they do have a relationship. And our response, therefore, is to try to address those structural factors that lead to migration. And that really can be, from a climate perspective, can have a synergy. And for us, there are two things which come out, which stand out really, really at the foreign center. And one is jobs, the creation of jobs. But the other one is actually living standards, because what we've seen with this significant increase of population size puts alongside an absence of land use planning and development control is the rapid growth of informal settlements. And informal settlements can be very, very counterproductive, can be in terms of the lack of productivity of the city. You tend to be sometimes in the city, often on the outskirts, but you have poor housing. You have poor access to water. You have poor sanitation. And these can combine to not only reduce the quality of life of those living in the settlements, but also can actually impact. So sanitation, for example, for settlements along the coast, people are more vulnerable, having already left because of climate change potentially, more vulnerable to sea level rises. But at the same time, because of poor access, poor sanitation, they're also very likely to be part of a situation where garbage is being dumped into the ocean. And in a country such as ours, where we're looking for our growth trajectory to come from green and from tourism, that can create a problem. So and it does, it does create a major problem. So I must also say that in our context, informal settlements also often end up on our hillsides. And those hillsides suffer from deforestation, which leads to an increased loss of water, leading to water shortages. But also the same time leads to landslides. So you're creating a situation, you're creating an environment which is really toxic. And actually, those who are fleeing, those who are migrating find themselves, in some instances, at greater risk than where they've come from. So what do we do? I mentioned jobs and I mentioned housing. And we have actually focused on trying to ensure that some of the structural challenges that we have that have been created, that we work with migrants to addressing them. So we have created a platform. And IOM has actually been a partner in this, in providing a job opportunity in sanitation. Given the demographics and the topography of our city, our waste collection is done by tricycles, which sort of they look like motorbikes with carts at the back. And we have created over 1,200 jobs and we've got another 600, which we expect to have on stream. And I see jobs with their really business opportunities because they're self-employed, but we specifically target migrants in informal settlements, trying to ensure that we are providing them with better life chances and better opportunities. And alongside that, we're also embarking on a program of informal settlement upgrades, neighborhood upgrades, to improve the quality of the housing and the sanitation and the drainage. I must hasten to add that this is a cooperative exercise, a consultative one, where we're engaging the communities, really discussing with them what they see as the reason for them being where they are, understanding if migration was recent or was a generation ago and understanding what the desires and the needs of those people and how best to meet them. I can't end without saying that a major obstacle to putting in place what I've just described is access to finance. And earlier today, I was on a call where the focus was on climate action. And when I said in respect of that, I will say also in respect of addressing these structural challenges to migration and ensuring that we are able to provide better living standards and job opportunities in the green sector for those who come to our city. And that challenges access to resources, access to finance. And as we have these conversations, it's critical that we really are talking about how is this paid for? There is a payment that comes from improved productivity, increased life when COVID struck, sorry, I said Ebola, when COVID struck, the fact that informal settlements accounted for over 35% of our population was really significant. You can social distance or physically distance when you're living in those sort of crowded communities. And so all of this sort of points back to the fact that we've got to be able to make a difference. And I'll stop here because I'm conscious that I probably got over my seven minutes. Well, Madam Mayor, I could listen to you forever. Thank you very much for your comments and your intervention were fantastic. Straight on point and it is exactly the kind of engagement that we would hope to see replicated at the mayoral level around the world. And I'm well aware that you're very active in this domain. Thank you very much for your words and showing a great example of not only analyzing the problem, but identifying specific measures to address it. Thank you, Madam Mayor and we'll be coming back to you shortly. So I have a quick change in the order of the speakers now. I'm going to turn immediately to La Señora Maria Florencia Carineño, Director of the Office of... To Mrs. Maria Florencia Carineño, Director of the National Directorate General of Migrations in Argentina. She will share the perspective of the Argentinian government that currently works as a temporary residence of the South America Conference on Migration in the context of today's subject of climate change and migration. Welcome, Ms. Carineño. It's a pleasure to have you here and I will now give you the floor. Thank you very much. Well, thank you very much, Michelle and thank you to all the panelists. It is a pleasure for me to be here sharing with you this moment. For the Republic of Argentina, the interim term of this conference, it is a pleasure to participate in this forum that addresses migrations in the context of climate change and environmental degradation. As said by the UN Office for the Reduction of Risks and Disaster in the last 20 years, the number of disasters has doubled, 90% of them are related to climate change. Mostly this natural catastrophe caused displacements of millions of people to other areas of the countries and also abroad. Since the signature of the GCM in 2018, the member states in the UN have agreed to adopt measures to control migrations of these populations that are forced to displace due to slow onset and onset events. And in this framework, the countries who have adhered to the GCM have committed to increase availability and flexibility of regular migrations way, including humanitarian protection mechanisms for these populations affected by natural disasters. These commitments are reinforced by the SDGs that talk about increasing resilience and tackling environmental risks and facilitate a safe, orderly and regular migration of people. In this regard, I would like to mention some aspects of the Argentinian legal framework on this matter. The Argentinian law on migrations and its regulation has included for over a decade humanitarian response to natural disasters. And it authorizes the National Office of Migrations to establish measures that authorize people to remain in Argentina due to humanitarian or exceptional reasons. Even if they are, they cannot be included within the asylum seeking regulation because these people just, they just can't go back to their countries and this framework, our office, enacted regulation 20,309 on citizens who would come into our countries as a result of natural disasters. And if their flows exceeds, the flow exceeds a number of persons who come in, our response has been to facilitate their entry through control posts established to that end. This regulation was implemented on several locations. For example, after the Chilean earthquake in 2010, one of the most important in the country, we also enabled provisions for people who displaced due to specific events like the Haitian citizens after the earthquake on 2010 and the devastating Matthew Hurricane in Haiti 2010 through provision 1143, they were provided temporary residence due to humanitarian reasons for two years. And these allowed them to have an ID card, equal access to services under the same conditions of national citizens. But our approach to this is not limited to isolated instruments, but to the increased mobilization of people who escaped climate change. And in this regard, we pass a law 27,520 by which Argentina formalized the creation of a national cabinet for climate change and established the creation of structure that guarantees the cross-sectional nature of climate change in the long term. Among the main objectives in this law is preparing the national adaptation and mitigation plan against climate change. Politics aimed at studying climate change promoting GHG emissions and studying natural resources for international cooperation with regard to migration, climate change and environment. Argentina was in 2010, the host of the ninth conference of international cooperation organized by the Foreign Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina. We tackled operational aspects, international cooperation, innovation in the humanitarian field as has been pointed out. As of September 2020, Argentina is in charge of the interim presidents of the Southern South America Summit of Migrations that gathers all the South American countries and which has worked or has linked the issue of climate change and migration for a long time with the support of IOM, the member states of this South American conference passed in 2008 guidelines on protection and assistance to displaced people through frontiers or borders. And this document, while not binding, represents a consensus base that allows you to move forward a common agenda of good practices and useful resources for people who cross borders due to natural disasters. And in this line, Argentina created a regional network of migration, climate change and natural disasters under the coordination of the unit I represent with intention of making it a space for regional articulation on this subject in time. We will focus on the interest of data collection, establishing communication patterns and institutionalization of these problems in each of our countries. This has allowed us to create a network that would allow us to work jointly together with different organizations as well as the embellishment of all the national civil servants. So within the framework of the South American conference on migration, we seek to join the platform that is now the successor of the Handen platform that seeks to protect displaced people across borders because of climate change effects, as well as to reduce the risk of said displacements. So once this process is complete and Argentina becomes part of this platform together with Brazil, Mexico and Costa Rica, we will join our efforts with the other member states. It is key that we understand that migration creates prosperity, adaptation and contributes highly to a globalized world. Therefore, including these communities into the societies that welcome them is key. I am proud to be part of a government that has established human rights as a key element of its state policies. This includes the protection of migrants as well as the reduction of risk to the need for migration. As such, Argentina has a very clear policy and vision that is reflected in the country's legislation and the mandate to not leave anybody behind, understanding that each and every single country is responsible for looking after our own home and protecting those that comes to our doors. So we salute Pope Francis' words when he said that nobody can save him or herself. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Cariniano. You have highlighted very important elements and I'm going to switch to English now. Thank you very much. You pointed out at the outset something that I had hoped to introduce in my opening remarks, which is that it's only been a few years since migration has been integrated into the global agendas. In 2015 was the first time that migration was included in the Sustainable Development Agenda and recognizing the links between migration and development and of course now integrated into the 2030 agenda and the SDGs. At the same time, that was when migration found its place as the Paris Climate Change Accord and in the new urban agendas. So really seen migration taking its place. And as you've said, 2018, just three years ago, not even the adoption of the global compact for safe, regular and orderly migration with the first global agreement on these issues. And I want to thank the government of Argentina, but so many of the others participating here today, it was precisely because of your advocacy that the whole issue of climate change and migration was brought centrally into the global compact for migration, not only as a matter of addressing the drivers, but also creating protection mechanisms, entry mechanisms to be able to address this phenomenon. So thank you for pointing that out. Thank you also for sharing with us the national efforts of the government of Argentina to address these issues and to really integrate into your national laws, policies and practices, the link between those. And thirdly, your point about the fundamental importance of international cooperation and how your government has led cooperation efforts, including now together with IOM and the platform for disaster displacement and the development working with the South American Conference and the regional competence of migration in Central America and North America to develop regional guidelines and now to take that forward even more. And you're absolutely right and we couldn't agree more that migration cancer is a source of innovation and that's the lens through which we need to look at it bearing in mind very well the words of Pope Francis. Thank you very much for your contribution. It was excellent. Let me turn now to our third speaker who will be Dr. Christopher Bayinas-Valdes and as a Director General for Derechos Humanos and Democracy, the Ministerio de Asuntos Exangeros de Gobierno. So, Elba, we are moving now to the panelists from Mexico, Mr. Christopher Bayinas-Valdes who is going to present the perspectives of initiatives both at national and international level related to migration and climate change and the environment as well as his role representing Mexico in the different organizations in the Americas dealing with migration. So, Dr. Bayinas-Valdes, the floor is yours. Thank you very much. Well, thank you very much, everyone. It's an absolute pleasure to be part of such important panel discussing human mobility. I express the greetings of both our ministry for foreign affairs and the president of our country. Now, talking about climate change and its link to migration and its international effect, we understand that migration is key to development and that is also the result of very complex and difficult situations in countries where there's situations of conflicts as well as vulnerability to climate change. We understand that the best way to address this matter is to address its actual root causes, understanding that migration is only one of the most serious consequences of these root crosses. Therefore, climate change is one of the root causes that causes migration as it hinders the development and growth of population in different regions around the world. We know that drought, flooding, sea level rising, hurricanes and different types of storms and other climate events are the most common manifestations of climate change effects as well as the degradation of land and the affectation of the economies and certain infrastructural factors as well. We know that those populations that are most exposed to these climatic consequences are the ones more vulnerable to them and more affected by it. So we had to understand migration as a process of adaptation to climate change events. So by mitigating population concentration in vulnerable areas and exposed areas to climate change is one of the things that we could do in order to address this issue as well as proper management of resources in these areas. On the other hand, we need to understand whether these displacements are just a temporary and emergency response to certain incidents or a long term trend. So we have the ECLAC diagnosis that was prepared a couple of years ago together with a Mexican initiative to understand the migratory floors in Central America together with Honduras, Guatemala and other countries in the region, understanding the direct and indirect relationship and factors affecting migration in Central America. Therefore, it is key to have a standardized systematic regular metrics of these flows so we can then develop policies with empirical and evidential ways. We understood this and therefore we conducted a national survey including factors such as violence, displacements and the need to migrate due to climatic reasons from the northern triangle of Central America, understanding that these migrants are motivated, as we said, for climate reasons. We had two hurricanes, Betah and Yota, that in a very short period of time impacted Central America and created more than 9 million people that were affected by its effects such as flooding, displacements as well as lots of healthcare facilities much needed during this period of time. At this point of time, many countries closed their borders and forbid the transit of people across borders trying to control the flow of migrants. However, Mexico did keep its borders open and actually fostered the reception of migrants by setting up shelters, organized and run by civil society and aiming to keep families together as well as providing assistance to those more vulnerable within the migrant groups such as elders, women and children. We also had to add in Central America to those migrants that leave their countries of origin due to violence, which needs to be addressed in a multifaceted way, one of which is, of course, climate change. So we had to understand the impact of climate change in such areas and its relationship to increase violence as a result of this. If we talk about internal displacements about which we do not have enough information, we need to gather more information so we can understand better its connection and relation to climate change. To this end, we are putting together a program and a strategy that would allow us to understand better the impact of those catastrophes and disasters that are actually human-made and that lead migrants to leave their country of origins. We are talking about three million migrants last year that were displaced. And we have out of these migrants that were motivated by drought, flood, flooding, storms, hurricanes and so on to leave their places of origins. We have in Mexico itself over 16,000 new displacements that were caused by hurricane as well as wildfires. Wildfires led to the displacement of almost 4,000 people in March and another similar number in June. So on top of affecting not only the availability of suitable environment to live, it also has affected the availability of drinking water, clean water and food and exacerbated the risk of contracting COVID due to the sanitary conditions in those places. Because of this, Mexico has taken on guidance and recommendations by international organizations at the same time that it participates in said international organizations as well as in the Landsat Commission in order to better assist those who are in need of international assistance and protection always within adequate framework based on human rights. What we seek to do is to address the root causes of migration which include matters related to safety, climate change, conflict, violence as well as environmental factors that hinder the potential development of individuals and motivates them to leave their place of origin. So we want not only to emphasize that we participate very actively in every single debate related to migration but that we also do so within a framework heavily based on human rights and that we aim in all our actions and initiatives to address root causes as much as assisting and helping those who are forced to leave their place of origin whether because of violence, climate or any other factors. I know that we do not have much time so I'm going to leave it here but I want to thank you again for your time and your attention and I'm available to answer questions if you wish. Well, thank you very much, Dr. Baleenas-Baldes. It was very interesting to hear you. Ana. Which is really looking at the structural causes of migration and looking at the root and there the comprehensive development program, the PDE, as you indicated, is really quite a remarkable initiative. I must say, sitting where I sit and watching it, its development, it really is looking to address what are the root drivers of irregular migration? What causes people to feel that they need to leave and what can be done about that? So my kudos to the government of Mexico for launching this initiative and you can count on IOM on this. You know that I am together with UNHCR, co-leads pillar four of four pillars which is focused on the human mobility aspects in this development plan. Obviously the primary focus is on the root causes of structural drivers, but also here we're contributing on trying to create more safe, secure and ordered migration. Mucho gusto, un placer, muchísimas gracias y vamos a continuar conjunto. Well, thank you very much. It was a pleasure to listen to you and we continue to work together as well. Who is Mr. Sino Tohizo? Excuse me for the mispronunciation of your name. The acting director of Saeru Sayoriat, the Committee for Environmental Protection in Tajikistan and we'll have an opportunity to hear from him about the work of Tajikistan's Committee for Environmental Protection and how the government is mainstreaming migration directly into its national climate change adaptation strategy. Mr. Tohi Rizu, Luzoda, you have the floor, sir. And my apologies again for the terrible pronunciation of your name. Excuse me, you have. Good morning, good evening, good afternoon to everybody. Thank you very much, Ms. Klein, Solomon for giving me the floor. First of all, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Sino Tohi Rizuoda and I'm the director for the Sturdy Interior Enterprise of Saeru Sayoriat, which is under the Committee for Environmental Protection under the government of the Republic of Tajikistan. And also I'd like to express my gratitude to our colleagues from my AM to Tajikistan for inviting me to take part in this very much interesting panel discussion as the speaker. And first of all, I would tell you a couple of words about Tajikistan. It is the country that is located in the Central Asia and this is a 10 million population country and regarding the Central Asia, it is one of the most vulnerable regions to the climate change and with the warming levels projected to be higher than the global mean. If we're talking about one and a half of two degrees then here are some experts talking about even the higher numbers as it's to the three or even four degrees. So you can imagine how it's leading to more heat extremes and the significant increase in the temperatures in the spring, especially during the spring time and the winter seasons, yeah? And that is much, that is really important to keep that in note. And Tajikistan is the mountain's country, 93% of its territory is covered by the mountains and mostly we're talking here about the range as a Pamir, Tanshan and Alay range and during the Soviet time, we even had the expression that the Pamirs are the roof of the world because there's a really high mountains, they're among top 10 highest places in the world. And here we have the glaciers and the mountains and the rivers here are transparent areas such as Amur Daria and Syrian Daria. And it's very important to note here that more than 60% of the water there is in the region of the Central Asia which consists of five countries to Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan which has the 60% of the water because we are on the upstream of this water here up from in the mountains. And then three other countries such as Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and the Kazakhstan are down the range. So here is also important to note that Tajikistan from this 60% we have more than the half of the water coming from our country down the rivers to the other countries, our neighbors. And for us this change that we're talking about right now in the, what modify ecosystems not only in our country but in the whole region. So this is the demortifying ecosystem services which would affect crop production here in our country livestock, herding, food and water security. And obviously this is gonna lead us to the change in the biodiversity as well. So there's a limited adaptive capacity unfortunately and the high dependency on the climate sensitive sectors makes our country extremely vulnerable to the climate extreme events, yeah. And migration is, it is and will continue to be shaped by the climate impacts here in this and the environmental degradation as well. And for instance, if we talk about 2020 then we had a lot of cases of new displacements due to the disasters that were recorded in our country. And just recently two weeks ago we had some disasters and the mud flows as well. There are, I think they're bringing to the same cases here and we're gonna register them and follow them later. And across Central Asia also it's increases the increasing of the precipitation variability and drying, this is associated with the rising temperatures and this will affect water availability which is in turn negatively affects pasture productivity and the water available to the livestock and consequently destroy traditional practices here. This is very important for me to know that here the government of the Republic of Tajikistan we approved the national strategy for adaptation to climate change of the Republic of Tajikistan and we're talking about the period up to 2030. So we have nine years here left to work on this and I'm really proud to note here that we identified migration in this document that we're talking right now as a cross cutting issue. I think this was the right thing to do. It was really positive and it has very important step towards mainstreaming of migration in the climate policy in Tajikistan on the highest level that on the document that we're talking it was adopted by the government. So this is, I think there are only few examples not only in the region but worldwide of this identifying migration as a cross cutting on the state level documents. So I think it's a good practice for us. As I said, it was the right thing to do to our opinion and this can be replicated not only in Central Asia but elsewhere in the world as well. And this national strategy for adaptation to climate change of the Republic of Tajikistan also recognizes the gender aspects of migration, environment and climate change, nexus. So an improved understanding of the inter-linkage among relevant stakeholders in Tajikistan, this would help us to create the enabling conditions that necessary to unlock the adaptation of potential of migration here. And here we also can bring an example of IOM project here in our country in Tajikistan. And IOM Tajikistan currently is implementing a project supported by the IOM development fund that is aims to develop capacities of women staying behind on financial literacy and climate change adaptation in rural communities affected by the drought and severe water shortage to enhance household level climate change adaptation. There are several activities that is planned such as in 2021, later during the summertime, we, our colleagues from IOM Tajikistan, they're gonna go further on the implementation of this project on the South part of our country. And this is, they're gonna focus on planning target savings and debt management throughout these stakeholders that we're talking right now. And the same training participants will participate in the second round of training on addressing water shortage in agriculture, which is also important because the climate change issue and the cross cutting issue that we're talking right now is also have a big, big impact on the agriculture in Tajikistan is in mountains country and the, for the more than half of its population the agriculture is one of the main sources of income. So it's also here, very important to underline the agriculture sector as well. I'm not sure if I'm beyond seven minutes or not but this was pretty much it. And I'm, thank you again, Ms. Klein-Solomon for giving me the floor. And if there is any questions, then I'll... You seem to be frozen but I heard your thanks and thank you very much, Sir, for sharing with us your experience. It's excellent to hear. I mean, obviously the tremendous challenges that your government Tajikistan is facing right now and the relationship between you and your neighbors. That's a very important consideration to take into account. So what you do as a government absolutely affects what happens in the other countries and what happens for you, for them affects you. So thank you very much for sharing with us your national experience and the efforts that are being undertaken to address them. Very much appreciated. I know we're short on time, so I will very quickly turn now to our next speaker who is Ms. Fatia Alwan, Director of Health and Social Development from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, IGAD, who will present the importance of regional approaches to addressing displacement and migration in the context of environmental degradation, disasters, and displacement. With a particular reference, and this is an important one to the example of the protocol on free movement of persons in the IGAD region, and also, Madam Alwan, I hope you will highlight the new joint program which has just been launched on addressing the drivers and facilitating safe, orderly, and regular migration in the context of disasters and climate change in the IGAD region. That new program is a direct outcome of the global compact for migration, the creation of the multi-order trust fund to help facilitate implementation of the compact, and I'm very happy to give the word now to Madam Alwan to share with us her thoughts and experiences. You have the floor. I'm sorry to interrupt, but we are having difficulty getting a hold of that speaker. Could we try with that person again and move to the next one? Certainly. Katia Shaffer, are you able to join us now from UN Habitat? Yes, I am able to join. Okay. Thank you so much. Well, let me then, we'll come back to Madam Alwan. Right now, I'd like to introduce Ms. Katia Shaffer. She is the Interregional Advisor from UN Habitat to share perspectives of habitat in supporting preparedness and mitigation activities in cities in the context of climate change with a particular focus on migration in the context of climate change and urbanization in Eastern Europe. And we also hope, Madam Shaffer, that you're able to share with you your views on how local action can be leveraged with migration to help achieve the sustainable development goals. Over to you, Madam Shaffer. Thanks, Michelle, for the introduction and I'm pleased, in fact, no longer to be the last speaker of the panel, but to step up and I hope I can do the introduction, in fact, to the next speaker on the regional level. And in fact, Madam Mayor, you have actually outlined all the key challenges that I wanted to raise in the conversation and I carefully listened in all the presentations. Also would like to thank Mexico, Argentina and Tajikistan actually in the contributions from the national level. And I would like to try to basically move away from my notes and respond a little bit more in between the gaps that I have noticed in the presentations. And in fact, UN Habitat as the urban agency of the United Nations has, we are quite a small entity, but I think small and beautiful as we say, and we have really the potential to provide, let's say technical services or technical advisory services to our member states, but also work extremely closely with local governments. So we really do understand the challenges that cities face. It was mentioned many, many times that recent, let's say global commitments, including the SDGs, the global compacts on migration and refugees have really highlighted the importance of migration to development. And in fact, I would like to add here also the framework that was established in 2016, the so-called Quito commitment to the new urban agenda that really helps us to outline the mechanisms for localizing all the other commitments. I would like to also add of course, the Paris and Sendai frameworks. And I think these agreements also touched upon by the previous presentations. And for us at UN Habitat, we really see the implementing or the drivers of change for localizing those global commitments in the kind of five principles, if I may call them now, and they are basically an integrated policy framework that goes across sectors and has a strong territorial dimension, which is I think something that we very much promote in countries. It is of course important to design our cities well, plan them well, but without adequate urban legislation, it is rather challenging actually to localize that. And it was mentioned also many times to look at the right financing mechanisms for the local level and even generating local revenues boosting the urban economy is quite key. And I think we need to actually implement certain or address certain challenges in order to shake the system and learn how to strengthen the system. And I think this is a message I would like to bring across and as we know, and that is one of my opening statements I wanted to make that living in the world today acknowledging that urbanization is one of the drivers we cannot change. So it is migration, climate change. I think I would like to add other environmental challenges and also the issue of biodiversity is something that we have to really take into consideration when we talk about development. The mayor of Freetown mentioned Ebola. I think that is a regional challenge, but now we have COVID and we have to actually also put this on the list of the global responses that we all have. And I think I would like to also highlight which was endorsed in the global compact on migration is the role of local governments, but within a setting of the whole of government approach to this and the whole of society approach. And if I may, I would like to actually emphasize this whole idea that we are supporting on enhancing the quality of life of all in cities and promoting basically the opportunities that cities provide by embracing migration as a positive factor. Of course, I do agree that we must actually address the root causes for migration in the first place through a kind of a system of city analysis approach. But it is also important to embrace the opportunities that cities provide for all to find actually, you know, the development opportunities despite all the challenges we are facing which the mayor of Freetown has of course highlighted informality, lack of access to basic services, job creation and so on. And if I may, Michelle, I would like to just highlight three or four examples that we have started to explore. In fact, as part of the UN family with national and local partners to address some of those key challenges that the new urban agenda identifies to make this sustainable, resilient, safe and inclusive sustainability happen. And thank you for the example. In fact, from Tajikistan, we are working on a very small urban profiling exercise there in the city of Khorok to understand, in fact, what the drivers of urban resilience could possibly be. And migration is one of them. And of course, the very challenging topographic situation is one of them, the climate situation as well. And based on this kind of urban profiling, which helps us to understand, in fact, the evidence for policymaking, let's say this is also a factor I would like to highlight, is to understand what are we talking about? Very often informal areas are not, we don't know how many people live there and what kind of vulnerabilities are exposed there. And of course, migrants very often find their destination in those settlements where, as the mayor also said, many other challenges like the solid waste are basically being exposed. So profiling is very important to understand. And I would like to also share the example that we have started doing in the Western Balkan region to basically look at the system of city of former Yugoslavia that is still very interconnected. And we have cities that are shrinking while other cities are boosting. And that region is also facing a massive influx or passing through of migrants, of refugees and so on. And some of them are staying behind, some of them are moving forward. And I think cities are very much struggling with the whole situation of embracing basically the inclusiveness agenda there. And I think the profiling will lead us then also to identifying actually local development challenges that could be addressed together with the host communities to see it as a benefit for development. I would like to also highlight maybe a bit of a larger initiative that we are just starting, which is looking at the Caspian Sea Basin, which is a very large, let's say, factor for the weather pattern and the climate dynamics in the wider region and actually globally. And urbanization is taking place at a very rapid pace, especially in the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Islamic Republic of Iran. And in Iran, especially in a very haphazard way on the Southern Caspian seashore. And in fact, we have come together with our colleagues from the environmental program and IOM to try to understand basically what could potentially be local responses to addressing the unplanned urban growth. Basically how we can, through the fluctuating water table actually address the threat not only on human life, but also on infrastructure, which is needed to actually run urban areas. So I think that is a very interesting initiative and what we are trying to do, in fact, is not only looking at the rural urban migration aspect, but also seeing how people see the area of origin as a place where they also find opportunities. And we are trying to bring, I mean, through the national policy lens as well, the whole local job creation through finding possibly nature-based solution to urban challenges at the local context, plus bringing a lens of a circular economy into urban development. I don't hear seeing actually migrants as a key, let's say stakeholder group to be part of the local development. And I would like, I mean, this is really an argument. I see that could take us also to the next speaker, which is what can be done at the regional scale because looking across national borders to share lessons learned on similar challenges. And so we are trying to embrace through the Caspian project and in fact also to loop in the Russian Federation Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in addressing some of those, let's say, development challenges that we are facing for the region and really starting a very long-term process. As we know, it cannot be addressed by tomorrow, but I think bringing, looping in together, the urbanization, the migration, the climate discussion, biodiversity discussion into this can be addressed. And I would say this is something where really the United Nations family as one can indeed support our local governments in braving the waves of addressing the challenges locally and coordinating in a very constructive manner with their national governments in finding the right means to really create impact at local level and create the quality of life that we would like to wish to see for everyone. And I close my input here with the words that the mayor of Freetown mentioned. It is about the quality of life and the dignity of people and not leaving anyone behind. Thanks a lot, Michelle, and I'll send ready for further questions to be answered. Thank you so much, Katya. The excellent intervention, very concrete. I mean, not only looking at all the UN frameworks but the actual application on the ground and it's really a pleasure to have our sister agency, UN Habitat here with us. We're running behind schedule. So let me turn right away to Lena Bren who will seek on behalf of the previously identified speaker for EDAD, but please, you have the floor. Thanks a lot. And maybe I should start actually with sending you the best wishes and regrets from Ms. Fathia Alouan who unfortunately wasn't able to attend the session today. But of course it is my pleasure to be with you today and also to make the last presentation of the day. And for those who don't know the EGAD, so EGAD is actually the Intergovernmental Authority on Development and it is a regional economic community in the Horn of Africa, covering eight countries, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan. And as you may know, the EGAD region is very prone to disasters and climate change since actually two thirds of the land are arid or semi-arid. And last week, the intern displacement monitoring center just released the new figures from the displacement last year. And in the region, we actually had almost three million people that were newly displaced by disasters and the adverse effects of climate change in the region. And if we are looking into the past 10 years, we actually experienced two major drought crises. So there was one in 2011 and 2012, which affected over 30 million people across Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. And there was also a drought situation in 2016 and 2017, affecting over 15 million people. And actually many of the people who fled the severe droughts in the region have been unable to achieve durable solutions and are still living in displacement. And drought is also prompting an increasing number of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists to abandon the traditional lifestyle. But in the region, you're not only affected by droughts, but there are also lots of sudden, unset hazards, such as floods, landslides, storms, et cetera. So for example, last year, there were unusually long and intense rainy seasons and this caused the worst flooding in Sudan in a century. But we actually have also experienced tremendous flooding in all Iqat member states. So even countries like Djibouti, which are known for their very hot and dry climate, have now flesh floods almost every year. And to address the different challenges and opportunities, Iqat is actually working in several areas. But in the interest of time, I will focus actually on three. So the first one is that we are working on to make sure that there are the global policies in this area. So like for example, the SDGs, the Paris Agreement, the St. Dye Framework for Disaster Risk Production, the Global Compact on Migration and Refugees, of course, and also the National Initiative Protection Agenda that these are translated into regional and national policies and also actions, of course. So one example is, for example, that we have supported our member states to advocate for the inclusion of climate change into the GCM. And at the regional level, as it was already mentioned in the introduction, there is now a new Iqat Free Movement of Prisons Protocol. And this was endorsed in 2020. And it will be adopted by the Council of Ministers now in the coming months. And this is actually a tool that really presents a unique opportunity. So we successfully have encouraged the member states to include a specific provision for people affected by disasters. And this is the first time that the Free Movement of Prisons Protocol specifically addresses the needs for disaster displaced people. And it provides a great opportunity because it not only facilitates the entry and the stay for those who are moving, but also allows those at risk of displacement to move preemptively. And in addition, there is also a provision saying that the stay will be extended as long as return to the country of origin is not possible or not reasonable. And of course, this is now a great tool, but what we need to do next is that we support our member states in the implementation of the protocol. And the second area I'd like to mention is on data knowledge. So Iqat has a known climate center. So this is called Iqpak. So climate prediction and application center. And they are delivering climate services, forecasting and early warnings in Eastern Africa. So there are several programs within Iqpak that are responsible for disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and resilience building. And what we are doing right now is that we are working together with Iqpak to make sure that the climate data and the seasonal forecasts are also linked with the displacement and the migration data. And this brings me to the third initiative that was also mentioned already in the introduction. Two days ago, we actually have just launched a new program on addressing drivers and facilitating safe, orderly and regular migration in the context of disasters and climate change in the Iqat region. So this is a program in collaboration with IOM, ILO, the Platform on Disaster Displacement, UNHCR and Iqat, including Iqpak, which is funded by the Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund. And it is actually the first regional program that is funded under the MPTF. And this joint program is building on the existing initiatives by all partners in the region and is addressing the gaps that are still existing. So I quickly mentioned kind of the four pillars that we have identified in this program. So the first one is that we want to enhance data and evidence on disaster displacement risk and human mobility. And this also includes the development of disaster displacement risk models and forecasts, which will then be used by Iqpak so that they can inform the government at the national and the local level. The second pillar is focusing on national and regional policy frameworks to enhance policy coherence. And this includes the inclusion of human mobility into the policies and strategies on climate change, disaster risk reduction and development. The third pillar is focusing on disaster displacement preparedness, operational response and also regional and bilateral cooperation. So we plan here to develop standard operational procedures that will provide guidance on how countries can collaborate to better prepare for and respond to cross-border disaster displacement and also to better protect the displaced people. And these SOPs will then be tested in simulation exercises, as it was done already in Central and South America. And the final tool will also be used to support the implementation of the free movement of prisons protocol and its specific provision on people affected by disasters. And the fourth and last pillar aims to enhance availability and flexibility of pathways for regular migration in disaster and climate change contexts. So this includes specific activities to inform migrants and affected communities about their rights and obligations. And it is also looking into improvement of access to sustainable livelihood and green jobs opportunities. So with these different actions, we aim to ensure a holistic approach and support our member states to better prepare for, prevent, respond and respond to disaster displacement and of course also to contribute to facilitate the regular migration in the region. Thank you. Alina, thank you very much. It's very exciting to hear what is happening in EGAD, not only obviously the challenges with the specific actions that are being taken. We will all watch with great interest the EGAD free movement protocol and its implementation, this extraordinary new development in terms of international law and policy focused particularly on this category of people. And of course the MPTF, this new project, the first regional project. In the interest of time, I'm going to turn immediately to three speakers from the floor who've asked to take the floor. And I'm sorry for quotes, I have to ask you to each keep your remarks limited to one minute, we're already behind time. My apologies, but let me give in advance, but let me give the floor immediately to la señora Isabel de Carlo, Minister- Mrs. Isabel de Carlo, Minister-Counselor of the Office of the Vice Minister for Multilateral Affairs of the Venezuelan government. You have the floor. Thank you very much, Mrs. Klein. I would like to express the warm greetings from the Foreign Office of the Venezuelan government, Jorge Arreaza, Mrs. Daniela Rodríguez, I would also like to thank the participation and the contributions made by the panelists who have participated in panel number five. Firstly, I would like to thank the initiative for this debate and the link between migration with environmental degradation and climate change in particular. This is an important subject for Venezuela and a sensitive one as well, dealt with from the point of view of cooperation and international solidarity, but also based on the framework convention on the UNFCCC and the perspective of human rights, taking into consideration that we cannot deviate our attention from the root cause that has caused climate change and their main facilitators. And based on the precepts of our national constitution on the Latin American integration and the Caribbean integration, the government of Nicolás Maduro has taken action to provide assistance to countries in our regions who suffer from the effects of weather events that are also extreme events. And this principle should be a permanent point in all the actions taken by the country. The establishment of discrimination, the political reasons, when it comes to saving lives should be rejected. The progressive practice of several countries to impose coercive pressure that affect not only the mitigation and adaptation measures, but also affect the fight against climate change and also the approach to migration and the compliance with international instruments such as the Paris Agreement. These actions are all against the principles of the Paris Agreement against climate change and are also against the principle of supporting developing countries to deal with adverse events. These practices show an inconsistent in terms of discourse in the fight against climate change and should be rejected as they put country in an inferior position when dealing with adverse events. The Latin America, the Caribbean region has seen an increase of natural events associated to weather. Thus, climate funding is an urgent need for countries in our region and particularly the concentration of funding for the adaptation and compensation due to loss and damages due to climate, climatic events. These are key points that should be disseminated and met in the upcoming COP26. Thus, the approach in terms of migration associated to environmental elements should be subject to rely on cooperation, interdependence and state should refrain from applying unilateral measures against other countries because this goes against international law but also hindered the creation of productive relations and new causes for displacement and migration linked to climate change. With these, I thank you for your time and my fraternal greeting from Caracas. Thank you very much. Thank you to Ms. Sara Lu Ariola, Undersecretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines. So nice to see you, my friend Sara once again. Unfortunately, just one minute in your time but you have the floor, Sara. Thank you very much for them, Chair. The Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. At least 74% of our population exposed to multiple natural hazards such as typhoons, floods, landslides and droughts. According to the Global Climate Risk Index of 2020, the Philippines is the second most affected country by climate change and the fourth most affected country between 1999 and 2018. Annual average losses amount to 3.1 billion US dollars. Historical data shows that the average of 20 typhoons entered the Philippine area of responsibility each year. Last year a total of 20 typhoons entered the country and it took only three of them to displace 105,000 families. On November 8, 2013, Super Typhoon Haiyan, a Category 5 storm, made a landfall in the Philippines and was among the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded on Earth. More than 6,300 Filipinos died and it cost around 2 billion US dollars in damages. This worsening weather conditions in natural disasters, especially in rural areas, have driven migration in the Philippines. Studies show that when people can no longer adapt to and reduce the risk of extreme weather conditions, they migrate. Low agricultural yields have pushed Filipino farmers to enter other labor markets with some ultimately pursuing work overseas. Looking at the climate change from a gender lens will also show that its impacts are different from women and men. Women are more vulnerable due to existing gender inequalities such as discrimination, threats to health, poverty, human trafficking, gender-based violence and access to essential services. Yet in times of disaster, women are primary caregivers. They bear the burden of caring for the sick, caring for the children. It's important to pay attention to these experiences, interests and knowledge during times of disaster. The Philippine government strives to apply a wholesome society and last mile approach in climate action planning, specifically in the implementation of the Philippines first nationally determined contributions and national climate risk management framework. At the national level, government agencies continue to engage all sectors of society in their plans, programs and projects following the whole of society approach. Further local government units are immensely significant in the skating risk-based and evidence-based information to each community and household to attain the last mile approach and to ensure that no one is left behind. In the Philippines, our climate change commission continues to collectively establish the need, the denied evidence-supporting action and coordination among key government agencies to have also partnered with IOM and studying the current correlation of climate change. The migration within the Philippine setting. The Philippine government also adopted the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Plan 2020 to 2030. The plan establishes the linkage between disaster risk reduction and management, climate change adaptation and summa society by focusing on climate and disaster risk towards sustainable development, effective disaster risk reduction actions, need planning and implementation across all key sectors such as agriculture, migration, environment, health, infrastructure, communication, technology and education. Indeed, migration and displacement due to climate change is a theme of global significance, especially for vulnerable countries like the Philippines. As a GCM champion country, it is our duty to remind nations of our collective commitment under objective to section 18 of the GCM to create environmental conditions for people to lead peaceful, productive and sustainable lives in their own country to fulfill their personal aspirations and to ensure that desperation and deteriorating environments do not compel them to seek livelihood elsewhere through a regular migration. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Madam Undersecretary. Excellent to have you share with us your experience and the tremendous actions that you're taking. Let me turn now to our final person requesting the floor and that is Miss... Excuse me. Takeshi Komodo from the permanent mission of Japan to the United Nations. Sir, you have the floor. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I will try to make it short within one minute. Throughout the time of the IDM this year, it can be denied that climate-related challenges pose adverse impact on human safety, threatening the survival, livelihood and dignity of the people around the world. In Japan's view, it is crucial to look at the climate change and migration through a human security lens. We must focus on people who take holistic approaches and should not forget the prevention of previousness to be an upfront of our efforts. From this perspective, Japan regards the role and efforts of IOM especially with regard to the prevention of the humanitarian development nexus as effective and significantly important. Our programs in Afghanistan, Mauritania and Somalia minimal projects are showcases for strengthening the preparedness against disasters and enhancing the resilience. Assisting developing countries in their efforts to address climate change and disaster risk reduction will contribute to the prevention of the forced displacement. Japan has worked with several Pacific countries to establish the Pacific Climate Change Center and etc. And Japan will also host the 9th Pacific Island Leaders Meeting at the end of June in order to address the regional challenges including COVID-19 and the climate change in many countries. To conclude, Japan will be our active partner in the fight against climate change and it is related to the risk to migration and displacement. Thank you. Thank you to you, Mr. Komodo. It was an excellent statement in bringing in a dimension that had not been mentioned yet. Thank you very much for that. And thanks to the efforts of the Government of Japan in supporting my colleagues in IOM to help us stabilize and build resilience. Regrettably, we are over time and we will not be able to go back to the speakers in the panel. So let me just say excuse me a tremendous word of thanks to all sick of our analysts today who gave us a multi-passive perspective about the need for action at multiple levels by different types of actors, the need for local level engagement. Thank you to the Mayor from Pretown, the need for developing national plans for implementation, making the link between climate change and migration served from Tajikistan. Thank you to the governments who represent the various different processes intergovernmental discussions that bring on migration but linking to climate change and environmental degradation the tremendous advances that have taken place. And thanks to our colleagues from Habitat UN Habitat we're so happy to be working with you. And thank you also to the three governments who took the floor directly from the audience very helpful to have your perspectives. So with that let me just say a warm thank you to all of the participants all of the speakers and to my colleagues, the organizers of this international dialogue on migration. You've shown once again the value of creating spaces, inclusive spaces for discussion on the multi-dimensional aspects of migration and very specifically this time in the lead up to COP26 the tremendous importance of bringing all the migratory actors together with the environment actors in the name of joint action. So let me say thank you and turn now to IOM's Deputy Director General Laura Thompson for the closing remarks. Thank you all. Thank you very much to all honorable ministers, excellences distinguished delegates ladies and gentlemen. Let me start by sincerely thanking all of you for your participation and active engagement over the last three days. It is with pressure and a bit of mixed feelings that I am closing this IDM session today 11 years ago I was opening my first IDM session as Deputy Director General of IOM. Over these quite so many years, the IDM IOM's flagship dialogue has had an important place in my work. I have had the privilege of learning from the numerous inspiring practices, perspectives and stories shared by relevant actors on migration at all levels and seeing how connections and partnerships emerged as a result of the cross sectoral and open setting the IDM offers to all stakeholders. I have also witnessed the growth of the IDM during these years and the increase in the relevance and its relevance to you member states and partners evolving from what I would call a regular workshop involving the Geneva-based delegates to a real international forum engaging also the New York diplomatic community and to a series of high-level conferences on critical topics such as diaspora matters, GCM, organization and youth bringing together migrants alongside with ministers, presidents of the General Assembly, heads of UN agencies and UN secretariat as well as experts from the public and private sectors from all regions of the world. I would like to express my thanks to the numerous delegates at all levels who over these years contributed their expertise to the IDM and to it becoming an acknowledged and appreciated forum at the global level and a tool for strengthening collaboration and coordination on migration. The session I am approaching today is undoubtedly another one in the series of IDMs aiming at contributing to global action on migration. This year was the first IDM for 2021 and we dedicated to one of the major issues of our times. The first is the climate change and the environment. It aims at canvassing views of states and relevant actors on key dimensions of the nexus between migration, environment and climate change and assessing actions to mitigate the impacts of climate and environmental change. This is linked to the broader implementation of global frameworks such as the 2030 agenda UNFCCC, the Paris Agreement and the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction. Much has been said and done since the release of the first report of the international panel on climate change in 1990 which already noted that the greatest impact of climate change could be on migration with millions of people displaced by shoreline erosion, coastal flooding and agriculture disruption. It is this first IPCC report that triggered IOM's engagement on migration and climate change with the organization releasing its first thematic report in 1992. The last IPCCC special report released in 2019 revealed the land degradation is already negatively impacting the livelihoods and well-being of at least 3.2 billion people while sea level rise associated with a two degrees warmer world could submerge the homeland of 280 million people by the end of this century and across the world. It is today widely recognized that environmental migration is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon that can amplify the existing vulnerabilities but also allow people to build resilience leading us to explore different migration policy options to tackle this issue. As the Prime Minister of Fiji said in the opening of this IPCC has been a source of livelihoods prosperity and identity to four generations. It is brutal twist of faith for the same thing they depend on to now threaten their own security. Ten years after the first IDM dedicated to the topic of environmental climate change the last three days have allowed us to take stock of progress in this area and identify some of our key challenges for the future. We heard the sparring keynote remarks from the Honorable Prime Minister of Fiji the Minister of Foreign Affairs African Cooperation and Moroccans living abroad the President of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations and from the founder and Executive Director of the Friendship NGO. This IDM benefited from contributions of countries championing action on migration and climate change through the addresses of the Ministers of Bangladesh Egypt North Macedonia and the United Kingdom we also had the opportunity to benefit from the presence and valuable expertise of distinguished representatives so in the same way we need to enhance our collective action to address the impacts of climate change on migration patterns around the world these include working together to effectively implement international commitments especially those related to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change the UNFCCC task force on displacement and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. The UN system stands ready to support these immense undertaking notably through the work of the UN Network of Migration. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Morocco at GCM Champion country announced Morocco's intention to hold this year a ministerial conference of the GCM Champions countries. Looking forward looking towards the 26th climate change conference we need to bring the messages we heard in these three days and link them with the implementation of the GCM as also emphasized by the UK UK Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth and the COP26 presidency representative. The UNFCCC also called on a state's step up with credible enhanced nationally determined contributions ahead of COP26 and with long-term strategies to put the world in a trajectory of net zero emissions by mid-century. We need to remember throughout this international No, I'm sorry, we have you, you're here. You're on, you can go. Thank you very much. We need to remember throughout these international processes and evidence that we are talking about people and their lives. As the UNFCCC Deputy Executive Secretary said when we talk about climate change numbers, statistics and economics we must never forget that the true impact of climate change is measured in human lives and livelihoods which we can save and suffer that we can avoid. We also need to remember that we are finding solutions for individuals under specific contexts or in the words of the founder of an executive director of the friendship NGO. Each migration each reason for migration, each migrating community in each country has unique issues and problems. It needs to be micro and macro managed. There is no panacea for everyone everywhere. Historically global crisis offered the opportunity for positive societal and economic changes as we learn to think and act differently when faced with immense disruptions. In that respect we currently have the opportunity to radically rethink how we approach the linkages between migration, climate change and health. The current COVID-19 crisis puts migrants moving in the context of climate change at higher risk to fall through the cracks and not receive the necessary medical care and other essential services. This crisis and environmental changes have created vulnerabilities and will create further vulnerabilities among migrant communities for women and for marginalized groups. These vulnerabilities and their compounding effects must be addressed. Comprehensive action must include all relevant policy areas in order to secure sustainable and positive changes. We need to develop innovative migration programs and support both health and climate change actions and we need to make sure that our health systems are climate resilient more environmental friendly and migrant inclusive as noted by the WHO director on public health environment and social determinants of health. We need a global multidimensional approach to reducing vulnerability and need to keep in mind that approaches that include all vulnerable groups are going to ensure the most effective responses as highlighted by the Spanish and Portuguese representatives during the discussion. Supporting the operationalization of the humanitarian development peace is also a priority. As we learned during panel three yesterday, we need to better understand and address the linkages between migration, environment, climate change, human security and conflict. As the head of the national platform for disaster risk management of Burundi and other speakers said we need to align our strategy to respond to migration and displacement with our civil protection, disaster reduction and development plans. We need also to develop more comprehensive approaches to climate related security risks and promote human rights based on gender sensitive approaches to support those displays in the context of climate and environmental impacts. We need to channel our efforts and investments into prevention and preparedness at the community level and into early action to tackle the climate emergency and the root causes of vulnerable. Above all we need to work together to address the complex and interconnected humanitarian and development issues we are facing in the context of climate change and its impact on migration and development. As the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced person noted, it is very important that such groups are not only seen as vulnerable but also as agents of positive change and that we facilitate the establishment of conditions for their agency in our respective areas of responsibility. We need to leverage the power of global collaboration and partnerships. We need to link local, national and global or relevant actors to put policies into practice as especially avoid for migration of the Netherlands mentioned. Leveraging the positive contribution of migrants diaspora and communities is also a priority. Nothing else has been done to date to facilitate and support the contributions of migrants to climate action, disaster risk reduction and sustainable development in places of origin and destination. As the ICBA Executive Director underline, the leadership, knowledge and capacity of communities, local organization and local authorities are to be genuinely respected and empowered. We must address the past failures of inadequate investment in the communities. Migrants are key actors of climate action and efforts should be made to promote and develop their skills to contribute to the green economy. We also need to strengthen our public-private partnerships and work with private companies to address environmental migration like this representative of the public and private sector explain. We should also ensure that migrant voices are heard in decision-making forums including the upcoming COP26 and the IMRF. Let's not forget about the voice of youth and their critical contribution to promoting climate action and sustainable development. I am particularly glad we were able to show migrant and children stories in this IDM through the two individual giving campaigns of IOM on migration environment and climate change namely find a way and do the right thing. We have ample evidence that the regional and local levels are key to addressing issues of climate change, migration and displacement. As shown in the previous panel the distinguished speakers from Mexico, Argentina and IEGAT regional and sub-regional policy dialogues are flourishing and developing concrete solutions to support both the states and migrants. We are also seeing numerous national and local initiatives that are effective to manage migration in the context of climate impacts including at the city level such as the Freedom Free Town Waste Management Microenterprise Program that employs more than 800 youth. The majority of whom are rural migrants. The major also announced a new joint task for global mayors on climate and migration in the lead up to COP26 which she joined with the mayors of LA, my, Milan, Dakar, Lima and many more. At the national level Bangladesh in the first LDC is the first LDC to set up a Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund with their own resources as the Bangladesh Foreign Minister explained. The Republic of Tajikistan is one of the countries worldwide that mainstream migration in climate policy as per the country's national strategy for adaptation to climate change which identified migration as a cross cutting issue. This is a good practice that can be replicated by other countries. We however need to scale up technical support to vulnerable countries to implement climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction initiatives that directly address the consequences of adverse climate impacts on migration. As the president of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly said in the opening of this IDM, unchecked climate change will have a profound effect on migration threatening the relocation of entire regions. There are numerous opportunities, policies and tools available to us. We must now act and support their implementation with no further delay. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, through to Israel this International Dialogue on Migration Edition provided for the 20th consecutive year a space to promote greater cooperation and cross sector partnerships to develop and implement collective actions that concretely address the increasingly complex and interconnected migration challenges of today. As always, a summary of the discussions and my recommendations gathered in the past three days will be shared with you in the coming days. The good practices, lessons learned and recommendations shared by participants will be published in the IDM breadbook which will be made available to all contributors and participants. These recommendations will also feed into upcoming events and forums including the UN FCCC COP26 and the International Migration Review Forum. Let me extend once again my heartfelt thanks to all panelists, contributors and to the audience. Last but not least I would also like to take this opportunity to warmly thank all I am colleagues who have been leading and supporting the organization of this event. This IDM session is closed. Thank you very much for your participation.