 Merci pour ce merveilleux panel. Many thanks to all the panelists, many thanks to all the people who took the floor. If there are extra questions, we'll pass them on to you very specifically. Thank you for all colleagues and all audience. We will now close this fourth panel, and we move to our last panel, panel five, on promoting and supporting regional, national, and local action on migration, environment, and climate change. I get, I think, back the floor. Dejan, do you take the floor or Michelle goes on directly? I think Michelle should go directly as our regional director of Central and North America and the Caribbean, and she needs to speak, because we don't have time. OK. So I'm very happy to pass them 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. Bye, everyone. Thank you, Deena, for being here. Thank you all for joining. Deena said I'm Michelle Klein Salomon. I am currently I know I'm regional director for Central and North American and 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 Deena 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 going to 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 that 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 Fatia 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 it 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 speak, 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 and the ability to no longer sort of make a living comes to the city. And if they find that unwelcoming, as difficult to life, then there's the tendency and the temptation to make the much more dangerous step towards irregular migration overseas. So they're different, but they do have 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, it's, 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 put 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, settlements, 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 at 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 a 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 are 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 what I said in respect of that, I will say also in respect of and 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 Ebola, 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. 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 María Florencia Carignano, Director of the National Office for Migration of the Government of Argentina. And she will share the experience, the perspective of the Government of Argentina that at this moment serves as a temporary presidency of the South America Conference on Migration, in the context, of course, of today's topic of climate change and migration. Welcome, Madam Mayor, and it is a pleasure to have your presence and I'm going to give you the floor. Thank you. Well, thank you very much, Michelle. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, and it is a pleasure to be here today sharing with you this moment. For the Argentine Republic, in charge of the presidency, but temporary, of the South American Conference on Migration, it is an honor to be able to participate in this international dialogue that has been proposed to boost the approach of migrations in the context of climate change and environmental degradation, as well as the reports of the United Nations Office for the Reduction of Disaster Risks. In the last 20 years, the number of disasters has doubled and 90% of them are related to climate change. In most of these natural disasters, they cause displacement, population of tens of millions of people within the countries and of trans-frontal character. Since the signing of the World Pact for the Segur Migration Order and Regulation in 2018, the United Nations States have consensuated the need to take measures to address the international migration of these populations, which are forced to move due to sudden disasters or slow emergence. In this framework of challenges for intervention and political action, the countries that have signed the World Pact on Migration have taken the commitment to increase availability and flexibility of the regular migration routes, including measures of humanitarian protection specific to these populations affected by natural social disasters. A commitment that has been complemented by sustainable development objectives that include strengthening resilience and the ability to adapt to the risks related to climate and natural disasters in all countries and to facilitate migration and the orderly, safe, regular and responsible mobility of people. In this sense, I would like to mention some aspects of the Argentine normative linked to the theme that invites us. The Law of Migration is Argentine and its regulation, since more than a decade, has incorporated expressly principles of humanitarian response linked to natural disasters or environmental disasters. With this purpose, Faculta de la Dirección Nacional de Migraciones has dictated the provisions that contemplate the income and permanence in Argentina of people under special treatment or humanitarian treatment, taking into account those situations that, although they do not fit under the Refuge Statute, they do require a complementary international protection under the principle of non-evolution because they cannot return to their countries of origin. In this framework, the National Direction of Migration dictated the 20,399 of 2005, which establishes certain guidelines in case of massive income from Argentines and foreigners coming from countries or mitrophes motivated by natural origin disaster. If the capacity for response and attention of the neighboring authorities are exceeded and this gives place to the massive income from Argentines and foreigners to the national territory, our response, every time it was required, has been the facilitation of its income with the facilitated steps opposed to the control that is established to such effects. This norm was put into practice in various opportunities, like, for example, in the Chinese earthquake of 2010, one of the largest in the history of that country. It was also dictated provisions for the protection of people displaced by specific disasters. Such is the case of Haitian people who arrived in the country after the 2010 earthquake and the devastating hurricane of the year 2016 occurred in Haiti. By the way, in 1143 of 2017, the National Migration Direction granted a temporary residence for humanitarian reasons for the next two years. This allowed them to obtain identity documentation and equal access to rights in the same conditions of protection and support of those who enjoy the nationalities. But our approach to the theme is not to reduce the operationalization of isolated instruments, but to the paulatine inclusion of human mobility in climate change combat strategies. In this sense, we are proud to announce the law of 27,520 of minimum budget for climate change, through which Argentina formalized the creation of a national climate change cabinet and established the conformation and a structure that guarantees the transversality of climate change in state policies in the long term. Consequently, among the main objectives of this law is the work of the National Plan of Adaptation and Mitigation of Climate Change, establishing strategies and policies linked to the study of climate impact, promoting reduction strategies of greenhouse effect gas emissions and reducing human vulnerability and natural ecosystems. Regarding the international cooperation in the matter of migration, environmental and climate change, in 2019, Argentina was an amphitheater of the nine international mechanisms for humanitarian assistance, organized by the White House Commission of the Argentine Cancillary. The statement of Buenos Aires came up with recommendations on human mobility in the context of humanitarian crisis, operability and effectiveness in international coordination and innovation in the humanitarian field. As has been pointed out since September 2020, Argentina has been in charge of the Pro Tempo Presidency of the South American Confederation of Migrations, a regional consultative process that unites all the countries of South America and has worked on multiple occasions the relationship between the environment and migration throughout the 20 years of meetings. With the support of OIM, technical secretary of the South American Conference and the platform about displacement by disaster, the member countries of the South American Conference approved in 2018 a guide on regional guidelines on protection and assistance to displaced people through immigrant borders affected by natural origin disasters. This document, despite not having a linked character, represents a basis of consensus that allows us to advance a common agenda offering the countries good practices and useful elements to address the situation of people who cross borders in disaster scenarios and climate change. Continuing with this spirit in its Pro Tempo Presidency Argentina recently created a regional network of migrations through environmental disasters and climate change that is now under coordination of the National Migration Direction that is headed with the intention of becoming a space of reference and regional articulation on the subject with the course of the years. Among its objectives is to attend the generalised deficit of data and information, develop knowledge, capacities and communication and the Pau Latina institutionalisation of this problem in each and every one of our countries. So far, this network has allowed us to create a network of national focal points, to work in Latin American networks of civil and academic societies for a retroalimentation and in the next few months we will be making training workshops for public officials in the region. A direct consequence of the work of Argentina in this issue in the South American Conference on Migrations was the impulse of the initiative of adhering to the platform on moving by disaster. It is the successor of the initiative Nancen, which has as a main objective to strengthen the protection of displaced people through the borders context of disasters, including those linked to the effects of climate change and prevent the risks of moving by disaster. Once completed the process of addiction Argentina will become the fourth Latin American country to integrate this platform after Brazil, Mexico and Costa Rica. In the end, my speech is very important that we understand that migration generates prosperity, innovation and sustainable development in our globalized world. This is a contribution to the peaceful development of communities that are immersed in social, demographic, economic and environmental contexts. I am proud to be part of a government that has established human rights as state policy. This has allowed our country to play an important role as a leader in the protection of human rights of migrant people and the right to not have to migrate forcefully. In terms of migration, climate change and the environment, Argentina has a clear posture and is active through legislative reforms, public policies and regional and international cooperation that are cemented in our firm's will to not leave anyone behind, assuming the shared responsibilities but differentiated from all the countries we have in the care of the common home and the reduction of social impact that generates environmental disasters. Very well, Pope Francisco in his encyclical Laudato Si and reiterated opportunities in the context of the pandemic. No one can be saved alone. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Carineño. I have given you so many important points for the following. I'm going to change it in English just to sum up very briefly. 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 in the Paris Climate Change Accord and in the new urban agenda. So really seeing 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 Conference on 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 can serve as 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 Ballinas-Baldes, and as a Director General for Human Rights and Democracy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Mexican Government. He's going to give a perspective on initiatives at the national level, both at the regional level, on the nexus between migration and the environment, and also on the role of the government of Mexico as a Pro Temporary President of the other mechanism in the Americas for discussions between governments, those consultaciones regionales sobre migración. Dr. Ballinas-Baldes tiene la palabra. Muy bienvenida. Thank you very much. Muchas gracias a todas a todos un placer estar en este panel de discusión sobre temas tan importantes como es la movilidad humana. Por supuesto, reciban un saludo del canciller Marcelo Ebrard de la subsecretaria Marta Delgado. Quiero decir y empezar, para decir que México, ver combate al cambio climático y su relación con la migración como una prioridad de la acción internacional, reconocemos que su atención representa un reto para el desarrollo que agrava situaciones de inestabilidad preexistentes en países en situación de conflicto y post-conflicto y que reconocemos que existen causas subyacentes. México considera que la mejor forma de prevenir los riesgos asociados al cambio climático es atender sus causas estructurales y los factores de vulnerabilidad biofísica y social que agravan sus consecuencias. Los riesgos a la estabilidad de ciertas sociedades evolucionan de manera constante. Sin duda, el cambio climático es parte de ellos ya que sus efectos adversos restringen el desarrollo y el bienestar de la población en distintas partes del mundo. Los principales riesgos directos del cambio climático, los conocemos, son las sequías, inundaciones, elevación del nivel del mar, huracanes. De manera indirecta, esto afecta a otros sectores como la agricultura, la pesca, la ganadiría, las actividades costeras, inversión, infraestructura, turismo, cambio en el uso de tierra, entre otros. No podemos dejar reconocer que son personas en condición de vulnerabilidad que son las más expuestas al desplazamiento por motivos climáticos. La migración y el cambio climático se relacionan de manera complejo. Por un lado, tenemos que verlo como un proceso de adaptación entre los efectos del cambio climático que obturre tanto interna como internacionalmente, pero también por el lado de mitigación al reducir la presión poblacional en el lugar. Finalmente, la migración también puede deteriorar el medio en mente al generar estrés en los lugares de desplazamiento o problemas de recursos. También en el tránsito ocurre regradación ambiental. Lo crucial es la planeación y detectar si son movimientos temporales o permanentes de emergencia o en el orden que estos se den. Hay que decir, y seguramente esto de conocimiento de muchos de ustedes, en mayo de 2019, el diagnóstico preparado por la CELPAL del Plan Desarrollo Integral, que es una iniciativa mexicana para trabajar conjuntamente con los países de Centroamérica y que es impulsado por el gobierno además de México, Guatemala, El Salvador y Honduras, se destaca que el cambio climático es un factor que contribuye directa y indirectamente en la migración de personas de los países de la región norte de Centroamérica. Para avanzar en el conocimiento de la migración por razones ambientales, resulta fundamental general, mediciones periódicas, estandarizadas y sistemáticas a partir de las cuales se pueden formular políticas con base empírica. Considerando esto, el Centro de Estudios Migratorios de la Secretaría de Gobernación de México elaboró un modulo sobre migración ambiental y violencia para su inclusión en una encuesta nacional sobre migración en la frontera sub. Con el objetivo de cuantificar el número de personas migrantes que desplazan por razones ambientales provenientes de lo que conocemos como los países del triángulo norte de Centroamérica y las posibles relaciones entre los motivos que impulsan los flujos migratorios provenientes de estos países. A principio de noviembre 2020 se formaron dos poderosos huracanes en el Golfo de México, conocidos como ETA y una semana después IOTA. Su impacto causó graves daños en Centroamérica. Para esto, la Organización Panamericana de la Salud estimó que ambos huracanes dejaron en América Central más de 9.9 millones de personas afectadas, decenas de comunidades incomunicadas e inaccesibles por inundaciones y desplazamiento y 704 instalaciones de salud afectadas. En este contexto, algunos países impulsaron restricciones al entrada y salida de personas, así como estrictas medidas de contención de los flujos a fin de evitar la propagación de la pandemia cerraron sus fronteras la cual reflejó en una disminución de los flujos migratorios. No obstante, México mantuvo abierta su frontera y declaró como actividad proietaria la atención de las solicitudes de protección internacional. Se ejecutaron entonces acciones sanitarias de prevención de contagios y se facilitó la salida de estaciones migratorias albergues de la sociedad civil a fin de evitar la propagación privilegiando a las familias y personas en situación de vulnerabilidad, sobre todo los que son adultos mayores, personas enfermas, mujeres, niñas, niños, adolescentes. Antón panorama de crecientes flujos migratorios proveniente de los países de la región centroamericana donde se observan desplazamientos por violencia o como resultado de condiciones económicas versas se consideró importante adoptar un entendimiento progresivo de carácter multifactorial de las migraciones de esta región en los cuales, por supuesto, debe de involucarse también los factores climáticos. Esto, sin duda, orienta pensar sobre posibles vinculaciones de medio ambiente en situaciones tan diversas como la violencia, los factores económicos y la seguridad alimentaria. En cuanto a los datos sobre desplazamiento interno, que aún son insuficientes para establecer relaciones causales concluyentes, se ha podido identificar, sin embargo, relaciones importantes entre fenómenos referentes al cambio climático y el desplazamiento interno. Es por ello que la construcción del marco normativo para prevenir, atender y reparar integralmente el desplazamiento interno que está procurando construir el gobierno de México, se ha contemplado las catástrofes naturales o aquellas provocadas por el ser humano. Según el Informe Mundial de Desplazamiento Interno del año pasado del Observatorio de Desplazamiento Interno, indica que en 2019 se produjeron 23.9 millones de desplazados relacionados con cuestiones climáticas de los cuales 24 por temperaturas extrema, 65 por desplazamiento de tierra, o 276 por sequías, más de medio millón por incendio forestales, y 10 millones por inundaciones, 13 millones por tormenta, 11 millones por ciclones, huracanes y tifones. En el caso de México, durante 2019, se registraron 16.000 nuevos desplazamientos. Una cuarta parte de ellos fueron evacuaciones preventivas, además de huracanes y tormentas tropicales. Los incendios forestales también provocaron la evacuación de 3.800 personas en marzo, y de 1.600 personas entre marzo y octubre. La pandemia también ha impactado de manera desproporcional a las poblaciones más vulnerables, y además de haberse profundizado la escasez de alimentos, agua potable, servicios médicos y viviendas. Lo que hace imposible, por ende, el atención y eleva el riesgo de contraer COVID-19 entre las personas desplazadas. Considerando que las afectaciones de cambio climático y las consecuencia de los desastres naturales potencia las vulnerabilidad de las personas en movilidad, México ha tomado referencias importantes tanto de la Organización Mundial de las Migraciones como del Panel de Desplazamiento Interno, al mismo tiempo que participa en el proceso de la iniciativa Nancen, a fin de contar con herramientas corriente la atención integral a las personas migrantes y personas con necesidades de protección internacional desde un enfoque de derechos humanos en este contexto. Más importante, aún, en la apuesta que está haciendo el gobierno de México, con la creación del programa de Desarrollo Integral para Centroamérica, que lo que pretende es atender de raíz las causas de la migración que son variadas desde la inseguridad, el desarrollo económico, pero sobre todo también una creciente presencia de afectaciones climáticas que impactan en las personas en su desarrollo y que hace que la migración sea obligada y no necesariamente voluntaria. En ese sentido, México seguirá trabajando, pero sobre todo a la apuesta de poder atender las cuestiones de raíz, decir que somos muy activos no solamente en las discusiones de migración, sino también en las de cambio climático donde reconocemos que debe de tenerse una perspectiva de derechos humanos para poder atender las diferentes cuestiones que afectan a las personas tanto en la parte de prevención, la parte de adaptación, de mitigación y sobre todo también en la cuestión de atender la migración. Sobre todo también en la cuestión de atender a las personas que lamentablemente por cuestiones climatológicas o de efectos nocivos del cambio climático tienen que ver o se ven en la necesidad de migrar. Lo dejaría en este momento, sobre todo por cuestión de respeto al tiempo y a los demás panelistas y como siempre, vamos un poco tarde en nuestra agenda original y por supuesto estoy a sus órdenes para cualquier pregunta. Dr. Bahí Nespaldes, muy interesante vuestro discurso. I'd like to call attention and just underline one aspect that you made which is really looking at the structural causes of migration and looking at the root and there the comprehensive development program the PDE como usted indicado is really quite a remarkable initiative, I must say everything 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 of four pillars which is focused on the human mobility aspects in this development plan obviously the primary focus is on the root causes 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 conjuntos por supuesto gracias. Welcome to our fourth speaker now who is Mr. Sino Tohizo excuse me 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 Ritsu Zoda, you have the floor sir and my apologies again for the terrible pronunciation of your name excuse me Good morning, good evening, good afternoon to everybody, thank you very much Miss Klein Salomon for giving me the floor first of all I'd like to introduce myself, my name is Sino Tohi Ritsu Zoda and I'm the director for the Third 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 the our colleagues from IOM 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 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 or two degrees then here are some experts talking about even the higher numbers as to the three or even four degrees so you can imagine how it's leading to more heat extremes and a significant increase in the temperatures especially during the spring time and the winter seasons and that is much that is really important to keep that in note and Tajikistan is the mountains 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 there are among top 10 highest places in the world and here we have the glaciers and the rivers here are transbandary such as 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 Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan which has the 60% of the water because we are on the upstream of this water in the mountains and then three other countries such as Turkmenistan and the Kazakhstan are down the range so here is also important to note that Tajikistan from this 60% we have more than 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 with modified ecosystems not only in our country but in the whole region so this is the modifying ecosystem services which would affect crop production here in our country livestock, herding, food and water security and obviously this is going to lead us to the change in the biodiversity as well so there is a limited adaptive capacity unfortunately and the high dependency on the climate sensitive sectors makes our country extremely vulnerable to the climate extremely winds 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 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 I think they're bringing to the same cases here and we're going to register them and follow them later and across Central Asia also it 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 spatial productivity and the water available to the livestock and consequently destruct traditional practices here this is very important for me to know that here the government of the Republic of Tajikistan we approve 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 is 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 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 gender aspects of migration environment and climate change nexus so the improved understanding of the inter linkage among relevant stakeholders in Tajikistan you know 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 going to go further on the implementation of this project on the south part of our country and this is they're going to focus on planning target savings and debt management throughout this stakeholders that we're talking right now and the same training participants will participate in the second round of training on addressing water shortage 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 and Tajikistan is a mountains country and 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 Salomon for giving me the floor and if there is any questions then we 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 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 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 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 certainly Katya Schaefer are you able to join us now from UN Habitat yes I am able to join thank you so much we'll come back to Madam Alwan right now I'd like to introduce Ms Katya Schaefer she is the interregional advisor from UN Habitat to share perspectives of Habitat in supporting preparedness mitigation activities in cities in the context of climate change with a particular focus on migration in the context of climate change urbanization in Eastern Europe and we also hope Madam Schaefer that you are 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 Schaefer thanks Michelle for the introduction and I'm pleased in fact no longer 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 technical services or technical advisory services to our member states but also work extremely closely with local governments so we 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 compact 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 Sandi frameworks and I think these agreements were 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 to 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 that we 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 you know 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 working 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 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 policy making 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 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 of 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 will 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 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 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 and here seeing actually the 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 in fact also to loop in the Russian federation of 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 you know the urbanization the migration the climate discussion biodiversity discussion into this it 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 you know 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 send ready for further questions to be answered. Thank you so much Katya 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 on this 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 form. Thanks a lot and maybe I should start actually with sending you the best wishes and regrets from Ms. Fatia Alouan who unfortunately wasn't able to attend the session today but of course it is my pleasure to be with you also to make the last presentation of the day and for those who don't know the EDAD EDAD 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 EDAD 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 Interim Displacement Monitoring Centre 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 crisis so there was one in 2011 and 2012 which affected over 13 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 they are not only affected by droughts but there are also lots of sudden unset hazards such as floods, landslides, storms etc 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 flash 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 global policies in this area so like for example the SDGs the Paris Agreement the Sandi framework for disastrous production the global compacts on migration and on refugees of course and also the Nansen Initiative and the action 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 a 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 Iqat 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 Iqat 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 Iqat 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 IqPAC which is funded by the migration multi-partner trust fund and this 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 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 mobility and this also includes the development of disaster displacement risk models and forecasts which will then be used by IqPAC so that they can inform the governments at the national and 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 and 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 climate change contexts so this includes specific activities to inform migrants and affected communities about their rights and obligations and it is also looking to 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 and respond to disaster displacement and of course also to contribute to facilitate the regular migration in the region. Thank you. Linda, thank you very much it's very exciting to hear what is happening in EGAD not only obviously the challenges but the specific actions that are being taken we will all watch with great interest 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 have asked to take the floor and I'm sorry for quotes I'll 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 Carlon minister conseller of the office of the ministry of external affairs of the government of Venezuela senora tiene la palabra Thank you very much Senora Klein first of all I want to express the greetings of the high authorities of the Venezuelan Chancellor José Riaza Minister Daniela Rodríguez also thanks for the participation and the contributions that the panelists have made who have participated in this panel number 5 first of all I want to thank the initiative of supporting this debate and the connection of migration associated with environmental degradation and climate change in particular for Venezuela this is a very important and sensitive topic addressed from the perspective of cooperation and international solidarity but also the principles of the Marcos Convention about climate change and the perspective of human rights taking into account that the attention of the fundamental cause of climate change and its main responsibilities based on the perspectives of our national constitution about the Latin American and Caribbean integration the government of President Nicolás Maduro Moro has acted in the sense of the responsibility to help and support countries in our region that suffer that burden or basis of extreme meteorological phenomena this type of principle must be constant in the action of the regions the politicization of the climate issue must be rejected as well as the establishment of discrimination principles for political reasons when it comes to saving human lives the progressive approach of various powers to impose unilateral coercive measures that affect the policies of mitigation and national adaptation and the fight against climate change but in the same approach of migration itself but also to our fulfillment of the agreements derived from the Convention on Climate Change such actions are contrary to the spirit of cooperation contained in the Paris Agreement in the fight against climate change and are also contrary to the initiative of supporting countries in development to face their adverse aspects these practices reflect a discursive inconsistency and action in the fight against climate change and must be rejected as well as placed in countries in a condition of inability to act before a catastrophe associated with the crime of natural disaster associated with the climate so climate financing for adaptation is an urgent necessity for countries in our region and particularly the concentration of financing for adaptation and compensation for damages and losses associated with climate change these are essential points that have reached a positive result in the next conference of the Convention on Climate Change with 26 therefore, the focus for the migration associated with environmental and climate efforts must be placed in cooperation solidarity, complementarity interdependence and that the states must abstain from legal and legal measures unilateral coercive not only against the right of the public but also in order to develop constructive relations to fight these global problems but also in order to add new cases, camps in order to contribute to the migration associated with climate change with this, I thank you for the opportunity and I send you a warm greeting Thank you we have very little time remaining so let me turn immediately to Ms. Sarah Lu Ariola Undersecretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines so nice to see you my friend Sarah once again unfortunately just one minute in due time but you have the floor Sarah Thank you very much Thank you very much Madam Chair the Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world at least 74% of our population has the 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 died in the Philippines and it took only three of them to displace 105,000 families on November 8, 2013 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 and natural disasters especially in rural areas have driven migration in the Philippines studies show that people can no longer adapt to and reduce the risk of extreme weather conditions they migrate in fact 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 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 and their plans, programs and projects following the whole of society approach further local government units are immensely significant in cascading 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 needed evidence supporting action by the government agencies they have also partnered with IOM studying the current correlation of climate change and the migration within the Philippines setting the Philippine government also adopted the national disaster risk reduction management plan 2020-2030 the plan establishes the linkage between disaster risk reduction and management, climate change adaptation and human 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 that 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 excuse me Takeshi 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 through the panel of the IDM this year it can be denied that climate-related challenges pose adverse impact on the 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 the migration through a human safety lens we must focus on people and take holistic approaches and should not forget the prevention the previous preparedness should be at the forefront of our effort 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 significant important IOM programs in Afghanistan Mauritania and Somalia minimal projects are showcases for the threat threatening the preparedness against disasters and enhancing community regions 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 Japan will also host the 9th Pacific Island Readers Meeting at the end of June in order to address the regional challenges including COVID-19 and the climate change and further enhancing the partnership among the countries I think we'll conclude Japan will be our active partner in the fight against climate change and it is related risk to migration and displacement I 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 thank you to the government of Japan in supporting my colleagues in IOM and the governments in many countries to help 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 multifaceted perspective about the need at multiple levels by different types of actors the need for local level engagement thank you madam mayor from pre-town the need for developing national plans for implementation making the link between climate change and migration sir from Tajikistan thank you 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 colleague 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 you 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 increase in the relevance in 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 assemblies heads of UN agencies and the 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 closing 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 linkages between migration climate change and the environment. It aimed 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, the GCM, 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 Plan on Climate Change in 1919 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 seen a special report released in 2019 revealed that 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 as to explore different migration policy options to tackle this issue. As the Prime Minister of Fiji said in the opening of this IDM the sea has been a source of livelihoods, prosperity and identity to generate four generations. It is a 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 aspiring 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 Minister 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 participation 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, the work of the UN Network of Migration. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Morocco, a 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 presentation of the GCM as also emphasized by the UK State Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth and the COP26 presidency representative. The UN Deputy Secretary General al-Miz Mohamed 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 these international are you sorry 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 climate change. We need to remember that climate change is important for people and their lives. As the UN 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 can we can save in 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 climate change is a crisis after 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 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 multi-dimensional 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 nexus 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 severe 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 vulnerability. 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 persons noted it is that important that such groups are not omission 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 and involve all relevant actors to put policies into practice as especially more for migration of the Netherlands mentioned. Leveraging the positive contribution of migrants, diaspora and communities is also a priority. Not enough 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 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 the Senegalese representative of the public and private sector explained. 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 the United States like IGOT regional and sub-regional policy dialogues are flourishing and developing concrete solutions to support both 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 ways more than 800 youth the majority of whom are rural migrants. The major also announced a new joint task force of global majors on climate and migration in the lead up to COP26 which she joined with the majors of LA, 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 of 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 this role the 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 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 redbook which will be made available to all contributors and participants. These recommendations will also feed into upcoming events and forums including the UN 2016 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 will be out for your participation.