 Good morning, good afternoon and good evening to all of you to this first session of IOM's International Dialogue on Migration 2021, accelerating integrated action and sustainable development, migration, the environment and climate change. I would like to ask our colleague to give some technical advice and then we will proceed. The floor is yours. Thank you. I want to thank everyone for being here and make some key announcements. Interpretation for this event is available in English, French and Spanish. Please select your preferred language using the interpretation button at the bottom of your screen. There are English closed captions for increased accessibility. To enable, click the closed caption button and choose show subtitle. If you encounter any issues with the platform, we are providing a backup live stream on the URL shown on your screen. I will also share the link to that in the chat shortly. 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I will now hand the floor back to Director General of IOM, Mr. Antonio Vitrino for opening remarks. Thank you so much. And once again, welcome to this first session of our 2021 IDM. It's for me a pleasure to welcome you all now when we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the International Dialogue on Migration. They provided, I believe, a platform to highlight and to debate the key migration governance issues of our times. This year, we have decided to dedicate this event to a topic that is not just a concern for the future, but for all of us today, the impacts of climate and environmental change on migration. In 2001, IDM celebrated the 50th anniversary of the organization, looking back at the evolution of IOM's work since 1951 in the service of governments and migrants. 20 years later, as we recognize a more mature but not yet old IOM at 70, the world is recovering from a major shock. A global pandemic that has put a halt to traditional internal and international mobility patterns. But while we are all preoccupied with response and recovery to COVID-19, a task that I fear will take many years, we must not be distracted over the past several decades. Climate change and environmental degradation has emerged as what I could say the defining issue of our time. Slowly, the impacts of this change on migration and mobility has moved into the spotlight, due in no small part to the efforts of IOM colleagues who have been constantly promoting awareness, advocacy and action. Indeed, 10 years ago, IOM organized the first IDM on migration, environment and climate change, aiming first and foremost to encourage parallel nascent climate negotiations to integrate migration and displacement issues. A decade later, we are proud to see migration and displacement issues fully integrated in the Paris Agreement, the dress through many other relevant international processes and dialogues. Our awareness and knowledge of the challenge have expanded tremendously, just as the impacts for migrants, displaced populations and broader communities have proliferated. Yet so much is still to be done. Our objective today is to call on the governments, partners and experts gathered here today to accelerate action on migration, environment and climate change through strong partnerships and innovative initiatives. Climate change and its adverse impacts increasingly affect how, when and where people migrate worldwide. There is no region in the world, no region in the world that has avoided population movements directly or indirectly linked to adverse climate impacts. We are seeing increasing levels of rural to urban migration in African cities, population relocation away from rising sea levels in small island states. The next step in migration is complex and expertise from many different policy areas is definitely needed to inform the development of concrete responses. More than ever, multilateralism is needed to address the changing nature of our world. States cannot tackle migration issues and adverse climate change impacts alone. We therefore must redouble our commitment to collective action towards the effective implementation of relevant global frameworks and enhanced policy co-edits. This includes ensuring the robust implementation of the global compact for migration, the Paris Agreement, the UNFCCC recommendations on addressing displacement related to the adverse impacts of climate change, the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction and the Nansen initiative protection agenda. More international cooperation is needed to create genuinely transformative changes and support the state's most vulnerable to climate impacts. The global compact on migration provides us with a reference framework to address migration and climate change nexus and create synergies with the commitments made under the Paris Agreement. Jointly delivering on both these commitments will also leverage our contribution to the 2030 agenda goals. For this reason, the UN migration network on migration has decided to address this topic as a thematic priority for 2021 and 2020. The migration and climate change work stream led by the UNFCCC secretariat and by IOM with the support of other network members is currently developing a robust work program. And as coordinator of the network, I am committed to supporting the network's efforts to support member states who request our technical expertise. As the director general of IOM, I consider the migration and climate change nexus to be our key institutional priority. We have developed a new institution-wide strategy on migration, environment and climate change that has benefited from broad consultations and engagement with many of you and which will be presented in the coming month. We have identified key priority areas where we consider action to be urgently needed and where IOM can add value and provide effective support to member states, to migrants and to the communities. Looking ahead, we have identified specific gaps and challenges such as the interplay between climate change, migration and urban planning or the links between climate, migration and conflict. Our vision and commitment are to promote a comprehensive approach to migration, environment and climate change, grounded in human rights-based approaches and for the benefit of migrants and societies. When well managed, migration becomes a safe and accessible choice. It can help people adapt to environmental and climate change pressures. Over the next three days, we will take stock of advances, gaps and challenges across multiple dimensions of the climate and migration nexus. My hope is that at the end of this dialogue, in line with the purposes of the IDM, we will have identified practices, lessons learned and recommendations that will support the development and implementation of concrete actions for the benefit of those states and migrants. The results of our common work will feed into our contributions to the upcoming COP26, a vitally important milestone. Colleagues, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I look forward to fruitful deliberations and I am convinced that together we can rise to the challenge. Thank you. And to follow up with this opening session, I would like now to present the video of Mr. Josiah Voreque Vainin Marama, Retired Honorable Prime Minister, Admiral of Fiji. I have the great pleasure to present the remarks of Mr. Vainin Marama and I would emphasize that he is one of the leading voices calling on the international community to commit to more ambitious targets, to curb carbon emissions and serve as the president of the 23rd Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Please play the video. Mr. Antonio Vittorino, Director General of the International Organization for Migration. Mr. Volkan Boskar, President of the 75th session of the General Assembly. Mr. Mina J. Mohamed, the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations. Ms. Runa Khan, the Founder and Executive Director of Friendship. Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to thank the International Dialogue on Migration for taking on the issue of the undeniable interrelationship between migration, the environment and climate change. Climate change displacement has gone from a doomsday proposition to a daily problem for vulnerable nations at a pace at which the current efforts at the adaptation have not matched. We are now face to face with the fact that climate change is forcing people to move and we can expect that trend to accelerate. Some movement may be orderly and planned, but some mis-movement of people, particularly cross-border movement, will certainly cause political tension and even violence. The idea is the logical stepping stone to mainstream migration and climate questions in COVID-19 recovery efforts and climate action and identify the specific challenges faced by countries most vulnerable to climate change and most likely to lose or gain population through climate-induced migration. Clearly, while all of us will face the effects of climate-induced migration, not all countries will have the same experience. There is no doubt that climate change is an existential threat to our way of life in the Pacific. This threat comes from the rise in sea level and increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and change to our agriculture and marine fish stocks. Fiji has borne the brunt of two of the strongest tropical cyclones in the Southern Hemisphere over the past decade, Tropical Cyclone Winston and Tropical Cyclone Yasa. We see no respite in the future from intense and even unpredictable weather patterns. In fact, they appear to be getting worse each year. Some of our neighbors in the Pacific, especially those on low-lying atolls, face the hard reality that they may lose everything. Their homelands may simply disappear. The science is telling us that at the current rate of warming, the Pacific should brace for a wave of external cross-border migration as nations sleep beneath the rising sea. If that happens, people will have to find a new place to live. Fiji has offered permanent settlement to the citizens of Tuvalu and Kiribati, should it be needed, and that offer still stands. Fiji has been given a glimpse of how the changing climate is driving displacement. Within our own borders, we are an expanding and invaluable body of knowledge that we hope can serve the world as cross-border flows of migration intensity. In Fiji, six communities have been fully or partially relocated with the support of the government. More than 40 others have been identified for relocation, and we are moving forward methodically, consulting intensely with the people who are affected. This requires considerable resources, but the full account is more than dollars and cents. The movement to higher ground often comes at a cost that cannot be calculated. For Fiji's most vulnerable coastal communities, the sea has been a source of livelihoods, prosperity and identity for generations. It is a brutal twist of fate for that same sea that they depend on to now threaten their security. To ensure relocations are managed sustainably, we are looking at ways that communities can generate new forms of income to support themselves, and that requires finding answers to hard questions, like how can lifelong fishermen be inspired and empowered to take up farming. We are developing standard operating procedures for planned relocation, and a vulnerability assessment framework to guide this all-encompassing process. The lessons learned through every relocation make successive efforts more manageable. This important work cannot wait, which makes the economic devastation caused by COVID-19 all the more bitter. With the shutdown of international borders, Fiji's tourism industry, which drives nearly 40% of our GDP, has come to our standstill. Fiji cannot afford to suffer the continuous economic setbacks brought about by COVID-19 in addition to the costs we bear because of climate change. A joint regional response to both climate change and COVID-19 is needed. Recovery efforts should contribute to the transition to a green economy and build climate resilience, create green jobs, and support effective climate action and efforts to reach carbon neutrality. The Paris Agreement, which Fiji was the first country to ratify five years ago, recognized the issue of climate displacement. As president of COP23, Fiji put forward a vision to build greater resilience for all vulnerable nations to the impacts of climate change, including extreme weather events and rising sea levels. In the COP23 decisions, the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage was tasked with incorporating the impact of climate change into relevant policy, planning, and action. This meant, taking into account the ways climate change could be expected to drive migration, displacement, and planned relocation. At COP24, Fiji launched the world's first planned relocation guidelines, and at COP25, Fiji launched its own displacement guidelines. In 2019, Fiji launched a relocation fund for people displaced by climate change. We have unrelentingly stressed the point that climate change and displacement threaten basic human rights, including access to food, to water, and to a clean and healthy environment. Both as the current chair of the platform on disaster displacement and through our active engagement in other global discussions. On this basis, Fiji has advocated inclusive rights-based and transparent processes to address disaster displacement once it occurs. But we have also stressed the need to prevent displacement and to address its root causes. The Pacific Island States have also acted as a region through the Boat Declaration, which reaffirms climate change as a security threat and endorses the recommendations included in the framework for resilient development, the FRDP. We in the Pacific need to explore opportunities for a regional approach to dealing with climate and disaster-related migration. We need to safeguard the rights of families and communities who may be displaced in the future due to climate change. Ladies and gentlemen, Fiji is proud to have contributed to global policy discussions related to the global compact for safe, orderly, and regular migration. At the council meeting since we joined the IOM in 2013, we have consistently raised the protection challenges associated with climate mobility and I wish to acknowledge the work IOM is doing in Fiji and throughout the Pacific to move forward on this front. We hope that this first IOM session will renew countries' commitments to confront the challenges presented by climate change and specifically to deal seriously with the issue of displacement. Thank you so much for such a lively vision coming from someone who is in the front line. And now I have the pleasure to welcome the Excellency Nasser Burrita, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco. Morocco is a front-line player in dealing with environmental impacts and it is a great pleasure to see you, my friend. You have the floor. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, my friend. Thank you very much. Mr. Vice President, the girls, so Mr. Volkan Burriskir, thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here with you. I would like to express here my congratulations for all the work of here, the organization of this committee. But before here going into details, I would like to underline the significance of this dialogue. This IDM has been very important for now 20 years as it is a responsible opportunity to come back on all these challenges around migration. This dialogue has this capacity to really improve all the aspects. It's always fair to all parties. And indeed, when it comes to climate change and migration, we can't ignore the impacts. It is a topic that is very often discussed here in the Kingdom of Morocco as we are really here dealing with climate change, migration, and we want to develop an integrated action for sustainable development. Our dialogue today is in this background where we are all trying to face COVID-19, the pandemic, trying to mitigate the impact on our societies. So the pandemic also had an impact on migration. It slowed down here, the international migrations by 27%, but also it reduced the number of transfers back to their countries of origin. However, the pandemic also increased vulnerabilities of migrants. I'm thinking about also all the migrant workers working in services, an informal sector that were affected strongly by the pandemic. However, this whole dialogue on migration cannot be limited anymore to just these aspects of economic migrants or refugees. There is another category, increasing category, and we need to focus on climate displacement. I believe nowadays that we can't ignore these migrations. We know that about 21 million every year, 21 million people do have to migrate because of climate consequences. In 2019, a lot of disasters in about 140 people of countries had to be displaced. And just for the first half of 2020, natural disasters led to a displacement of over 10 million people. So of course, it's important to talk about these climate migrations. These figures are very high. And we could by 2050 talk about 200 to 500 million people. It's very hard to also quantify precisely because it's based on estimates. It's difficult to qualify it as a concept because the definition is not always clear. So it's also difficult because this is a multifactorial event because this is mixed with the climate, social and political environments. And when we're talking about internal displacement, original displacement here, this is a lot more difficult sometimes to monitor and less visible. Dear Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I would also like to focus here on Africa, my continent, particularly impacted by climate change. Africa is disproportionately touched by climate migration, environmental migration. Let's take the Sahel region. It is here one of the most impacted areas in the world, the epicenter of a displacement crisis at the moment with 1.6 million internal displacements and refugees fleeing violence in 2020. And this link between climate change and security and peace in Africa is very clear. Doesn't need to be demonstrated again. The increase in temperature also increased conflicts by 11% in sub-Saharan Africa. And if this trend continues, this percentage could actually reach 52% in 2030. And of course, this will also have an impact on a lot of agricultural land putting pressure on food security. I'm also talking about smaller island countries and states. I believe that it is our responsibility to act, dear Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, but also it's our duty to act quickly. We need to be able to respond, have a coordinated response to mitigate the consequences of climate change and the degradation of our environment. So Morocco is going for an international action. And I think we will need to act on three areas. First of all, protecting displaced populations. Two, facilitate planned displacements to actually protect the populations and avoid breast changes. And third, here fight against climate change, developing resilience policies and following all the UN policies. I believe that in these three areas, we will be able to act and I believe Morocco is committed to work on these three areas. When it comes to adaptation to climate change, Morocco is the leader to reducing green gas emissions by 2020 by 30%. And we've also increased the share of renewable energies in our kingdom. And we would like to reach actually the objective by 2030 of 52%. And again, under the leadership of His Majesty, the King of the Kingdom of Morocco, I would also like to talk about the organization of the first African summit on the core emergence at the continental level where we will talk about the adaptation of the African here agriculture, the different initiatives and created also between Senegal and Morocco to develop initiatives on technologies and developing our African platform, Youth African Hub. So dear Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, fighting here these consequences are very important for all of us. I believe that our national policy here on migration is based on solidarity and human values. Our African agenda presented in 2018 emphasizes all these aspects, including in 2018 our Marrakesh conference where the compact international compact on migration was adopted. So here again, we are here the champions of these compact and we believe that we need to hear again organize a meeting between all the states which have signed these compacts because we need to continue raising awareness on these objectives. Dear Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, before concluding, I'd like to say that protecting the environment fighting against climate change and managing migration are here very important and share some commonalities. We need to act on this structure, we need to understand what are the collective challenges and then it requires a clear political will of all stakeholders. And at last, I believe that we need to share this responsibility and this mutual respect. But all that cannot work without some basic principles and I'm talking here about the transit countries, these countries which are immigration in immigration countries and border management cannot be externalized. We've said that and repeated that the transit countries do not have the responsibility here of being police officers of other countries. We need here, we cannot actually hear again to postpone your responsibility to delegate this responsibility. It's very important here to base all these actions on partnerships and in a partnership, you have to be the equal, you cannot be an adversary with your partner. So migrants cannot be instrumentalized. I do believe that having a binary state of mind is not helping. If we want to help migrants, we need to avoid cynicism and just like strengthening border control and increasing the number of deportations. So I do believe that here again, we need to have inclusive migration policies based on the strong partnerships. Thank you very much, Mr. Director General, ladies and gentlemen. This when it comes to Morocco, it's very clear what is the path ahead of us. Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you very much here for, of course, your commitment in the name of Morocco, but also showing this real dynamic at the African continental level. Thank you very much. Listen to the message that was sent to us by the president of the 75th session of the General Assembly is Excellency Mr. Volkan Volskir that has put the climate agenda on top of his chairmanship of the General Assembly. Let's see his message. Thank you. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I'm honored to join you in opening the 2021 International Dialogue on Migration. This year's dialogue is of particular significance. The world continues to grapple with both the health and socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 and there remains the ever-increasing threat of climate change. I command IOM and the UN Network on Migration for offering this opportunity to advance cooperation and coordination at this time of great need. Colleagues, allow me to be frank. As our attention was focused nearly exclusively on the global pandemic and its impact on our own citizens, it was the most vulnerable, including migrants who paid the price. It was those already furthest behind who have had to wait for health and prevention support who were denied job and economic relief and who still do not know when they will have access to vaccines. It is our responsibility to leave no one behind and to protect and empower all people, including migrants. As we move on and begin to construct our world beyond the pandemic, we must pause to reflect on the gaps that have persisted and to ensure that future crises do not see the very same mistakes take place. Now is your opportunity to do just that. With recovery from COVID-19, rolling out globally at unprecedented levels, we must ensure that policies and actions support the situation faced by migrants. This can be achieved through projects intended to spur economic growth and create jobs, as well as funding allocated to boost health care and other social programs. Achieving this, however, requires a deliberate effort to look after those who too often fall through the cracks, who too often do not have the support of social safety nets. Dear colleagues, we must remember that migrants have played an important role throughout the course of the pandemic. Migrants have stood on the front lines, providing health support. Migrants have worked in the food and service industries, helping to keep our societies and our economies afloat. And migrants, as scientists, have helped lead efforts to successfully develop a global vaccine. Yet despite this, migrants have been disproportionately affected. As President of the UN General Assembly, I am pleased to say that recovery from COVID-19, vaccines for all, and the advancement of the humanitarian agenda, with a focus on the most vulnerable, have been amongst my priorities for the 75th session. And we have continued to champion these interconnected issues at every turn. I appreciate the opportunity to address you today, and I commend you for your support for this important topic. In closing, allow me to reiterate that we must heed the lessons learned during this period. While the pandemic has dominated our agenda, the larger climate crisis continues to loom. Unchecked climate change will have profound implications on migration, threatening the relocation of entire regions, especially in countries in special situations, such as least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, and small island developing states. Recovery from COVID-19 must therefore embrace green policies, that both mitigate climate change, but also strengthen adaptive capacity. With COP26 on the horizon, as well as COP-level events around biodiversity and desertification, land degradation, and drought, there are ample opportunities to push forward on these items. Dear colleagues, the resources and policy options available now are of incredible proportions and maybe our single best chance to indicate, to truly and meaningfully make change. Let us not squander it. Thank you. Thank you so much. I want to thank the president of the 75th session of the general assembly for the very straightforward message that he has just delivered us. And now it's my privilege and honor to introduce the message that has been sent to IDM by Ms Amina Mohamed, the deputy secretary general of the United Nations. Please, can you put the video of Amina Mohamed? Excellencies Distinguished Elegates, it is my pleasure to join IOM's flagship international dialogue on migration. This dialogue comes during a vital year for protecting nature and people. Too many people around the world are forced to move by climate emergencies. In the first half of 2020, disasters displaced 9.8 million people and were the leading trigger of new internal displacements. We know that these numbers will grow as climate change worsens. Women and girls are disproportionately affected, and women make up 60 to 80 percent of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, livelihoods that are highly climate sensitive. But they make up only 15 to 20 percent of landholders, which makes their return following displacement much more difficult. Moreover, when women and girls are displaced, they face much greater risk of gender-based violence. We have also seen migrants disproportionately affected by the pandemic through border restrictions, high rates of unemployment, and inconsistent access to national health systems. Excellencies, the question for this dialogue, therefore, is how can we best prevent the displacement and migration that is caused by climate change and better support migrants and host communities where prevention falls short? Allow me to highlight four areas for your consideration. The first, the best way to prevent climate-related migration and displacement is to limit warming to 1.5 degrees. All countries need to step up with credible, enhanced, nationally determined contributions ahead of COP26, and with long-term strategies to put the world in a trajectory to net-zero emissions by mid-century. Second, we must have a breakthrough in adaptation and resilience, driven by allocating 50 percent of climate finance. We need to ensure that countries follow through on their commitment to provide $100 billion in climate finance and ensure that access to these resources is eased, particularly for the most vulnerable. Securing the necessary financing for adaptation and resilience is a requirement for preventing displacement. Third, we need to prioritize support to those countries and communities that are directly affected and most vulnerable to climate change and displacement, particularly the least developed countries and small island developing states. Expanded early warning systems, access to insurance for crop loss, and improvements to protective infrastructure depend on these resources. In Bangladesh, forecast-based financing reduced household asset losses from flooding by 27 percent and helped many people stay in place. In India, systemic improvements to early warning and evacuation have prevented nearly all loss of life from cyclones and significantly shortened displacement. But we will be unable to stop climate-related displacement and migration. Indeed, it will only grow as the world continues to warm, impacts become more frequent and severe, and some countries face extreme territorial loss. This means we need to support displaced populations, as well as the communities and countries that will host them. To do this effectively, we must ensure that policy responses and financial decision-making include vulnerable countries, communities and migrants and displaced populations who know their own challenges and have their own solutions. Fourth, we need to understand that climate change is combining with inequality, conflict and the impacts of the pandemic to drive greater deprivation and forced migration. We need a whole-of-society approach, rooted in delivering the sustainable development goals over the course of the decade of action to help people maintain their livelihoods, health, rights and access to basic services. Across the months ahead at the High-Level Political Forum, the major conferences on food systems, energy, biodiversity and climate change, we need to secure a more stable, resilient future for populations most at risk. Next year's International Migration Review Forum will then have a strong basis for reducing displacement and ensuring the necessary support for migrants and host communities. In each of these areas, you can count on the support of the UN system. Through the UN Migration Network, we have a platform for leveraging the knowledge and expertise of UN entities in an integrated manner, as governments work to implement the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration. I wish you every success and your important deliberations. Thank you. Thank you so much, Deputy Secretary General. We are very reassured by the fact that the climate change and the link with migration figures top of the agenda of the UN system as a whole. And above all, for your recommendation to look at this issue from an all-of-society perspective. And that's precisely it is my pleasure now to introduce you to Mr. Runa Khan, founder and executive director of Frenchie, an international social purpose organization established in Bangladesh in 2002 to support remote communities in the country, particularly exposed to adverse impacts of climate change. And Runa, thank you so much for being with us, especially at this very late hour in your country. We appreciate very much. You have the floor. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Antonio Vittorino, very distinguished speakers, guests. Thank you for the invitation to speak at this much needed international dialogue on migration. Forced migration is an overwhelming reality of today. It's impact and possible scale, a frightening thought for our coming tomorrow. Ideas, policies, scores of actions are gaining momentum. But truth is, nothing is decreasing its volume or dangers or pain of each occurrence. All washed away in front of my eyes, my home, my land. Salinity has taken over. No longer can I group crops or drink the water of my land. I used to have a happy home, wife, children, food and hope. Today I pull a rickshaw, live in the slums, alone with no hope left in me. My child, wrenched from my arms, was thrown into the fire, all quoted to me as a witness by affected migrants. Migration due to predictable climate issues has been happening historically. But what a difference when unpredictability of unimaginable magnitude happens along with overwhelming increase in demography? For then, no longer does it allow migrants to plan and secure physical space for restarting their life elsewhere. What happens when refugees do not migrate in tents but in millions, we know. Trying to take steps for prevention is no longer acceptable. Actions need to be spoken of as already taken. Climate migrants are a global phenomena. Environmental degradation has led to people being trapped in their vulnerabilities. In 2019, 24.9 million new IDPs across 140 countries were linked to sudden onset disasters, conflict violence to another 8.5 million. Data for slow migration like sea level rise or river erosion, trigger displacements are very hard to come by, you don't know. COVID-19, more than ever before, people are moving to different places in search of likelihood. The world's biggest challenges are accelerating. Climate crisis and migration, poverty and migration, migration from fear of terrorism, political migrants, pollution of air, water, migration due to demography, lack of space, and now the global health crisis. All defined borders yet raising new and still higher borders and barriers. We are trapped. So going through traditional modalities of negotiation and for about to be made policies is already late because at the time it's decided and implemented, new challenges are arising. How do you perceive to be able to manage the fact that climate migrants are going to multiply at least three to four times in the coming years and will sooner or later break the borders? Internal displacement unlike inter-country migration is mostly silent and invisible. Bangladesh is a country of 170 million people on 148,000 square kilometers of land with 52 are often underwater, seventh on the global climate risk index. One meter rise is one fifth of the country underwater, thus becoming foremost in number of people to be impacted. And friendship over the last 20 years has been working successfully finding adaptation solutions to access basic human needs for migrant communities. Health through floating hospitals and services given by trained community medics, prevention, easing suffering to curing. Being by their sides, preparing them through our community initiated disaster risk programs, giving access to knowledge and funds through our climate resilience economic actions, training, empowering, micro social entrepreneurs, so they can always carry their knowledge, training and crafts, farmers, fishermen, parasolar technicians, paravets, paralegals, paramedics, teachers, beavers, and then strengthening them with linkages to the government services and legal help. Ensuring deep understanding of their own worth and their own ecosystem every time they move to continue in enabling to give services, earn and restart their lives within their moving communities. Ensuring that they are nurturing dignity and self-respect is for me the single most important factor for enabling this distressed pain to community to return to the mainstream. I have a short film to show you. I hope they can show it now. Thank you very much. Nearly one million Rohingya have been forced to flee their homes. Thank you. For 20 years I've been a witness and a problem-solving actor in this changing environment. Dealing with IDPs and today with the Rohingyas. Serving more than 6.5 million people annually. Realizing everything is not totally unsolvable. I have received my share of rice. My neighbor still needs it. Please give it to them. I have savings with friendship and a school has now shifted to our island. I don't need more. I now know that drinking saline water had caused me three miscarriages, but having a clinic at my door and fresh drinking water from the water plants, today I have a beautiful healthy day. Hope happens, but actions are needed for it to happen. 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. We need to accept this to prevent forced migration is the long-term solution. Yet seeing the daily migrants we know simultaneously people need protection and they need it now. With each migration people fall below the poverty line, shifting the economic curve downwards. It has a direct impact on any country which wants to reach the SDG goals. Governments need to identify climate vulnerable migrant communities, treat them as valuable members of their own society country. So often they are ignored. Ensuring that these policies address directly, practically the reality of the migration and is addressed with solidarity, compassion, empathy, policies which are credible, possible and acceptable by the population and communities. If IOM extends their help for doing this in the way acceptable by the governments, helping in providing dialogue for collaboration with policymakers and civil society, sharing experiences in finding internal solution, forced migration or at least impact of forced migration may lessen. Safety in migration needs to be ensured so that people for whom this is happening do not see it as a failure, a fear or a tragedy but a tool to restart their life. Preparedness is key but preparedness and foresight for all of our stakeholders involved. Most migratory populations spiral economically downwards due to total lack of needed economic and life skills and lack of strength due to no access to basic services. Good health, education, skill training, access to finance, understanding of legal processes and knowledge of where to go to get support which is very often the governments are providing are key to the migrants ability for restarting their life sometimes twice, three times a year. Minimizing scales of many natural disasters by simply caring and improving management, repairing the embankment leaks on time, shelters, foreseeing giving timely warnings for threatening famines, cyclones, floods along with preparedness. 20-year-old Mollida, a trained friendship flood volunteer from a chore called Chores and Island called Goynar Potul, rescued 45 women and children during the last flood by building a banana raft with the stock, with the banana stockings. And today with all the famines, good intentions, how is it not possible to address this issue more impactfully? It is not only about assistance but about imbuing people in a way where massive assistance will not be needed, helping them to become resilient, empowered, being able to restart their life with opportunity and hope, to have the strength and dignity to make their own decisions. All of us here today, for all of us, this is a responsibility and acting on this responsibility is our only option. Thank you. Thank you so much, Runa, for your very impressive contribution and for the ideas that you have put forward. I think that there is a common message from all the participants. We need to build back better, but we need to look to the impacts of climate change because it is a joint endeavor. And definitely, this is probably the best introduction for our first panel, that we call it the road to COP26. So the question is what can be done? What should be done in order to accelerate action to address migration and displacement in the context of climate and environmental change? We know that Glasgow is going to be a milestone and we want to make sure that this part of the issue is visible and is given the necessary attention from the international community. And we are very lucky today to have a high quality panel of interventions and speakers that I will immediately present to you. And the first one is the foreign minister of Bangladesh, Dr. A.K. Abdul Maaman. We have a video message from him and I would like to ask to put his video message on now. Thank you. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Mr. Antonio Vittorino, Director General of IOM. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. Assalamu alaikum. Peace be upon you. I thank the IOM for organizing the session of the International Dialogue on Migration 2021. To discuss the emerging nexus between migration, environment, and climate change at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented socioeconomic challenges across the world. Excellencies, climate change is a major contributor to environmental degradation, affecting global food, energy, health, and economic security. Moreover, these phenomena directly or indirectly jeopardize the lives and livelihoods, especially of climate vulnerable communities, causing widespread displacement and migration between countries and across borders. According to the report of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 17.2 million people were displaced as a result of climate-related disasters in 2018. And 9.3 million of them, which is more than half, were from the Asia-specific region. Distinguished guests, Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change and ranked 7th on the 2020 global climate risk index. Due to its unique geographic location, every year, Bangladesh experiences extreme weather events that result in loss of lives, lands, homes, and livelihoods, and eventually force displacement of people across the country, causing slums in cities and towns. Sea level rise, increasing salinity, and river erosion force people in Bangladesh to become climate migrants inside the country. The 42 million people living in 19 coastal districts of Bangladesh are under severe threat for climate change. One-fifth of Bangladesh could be inundated by a one meter rise in the sea level. We are forced to create shelters and housing for our climate migrants, although these people are being uprooted from their sweet homes due to global erratic climatic changes. Moreover, the 1.1 million forcibly displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar had sheltered in the environmentally important Cox's Bazaar District that has caused a significant impact on the ecology of the country. Excellencies, despite these constraints, Bangladesh has emerged as a global leader in climate change adaptation. Bangladesh is spending nearly 5 billion US dollars each year for adaptation and mitigation. We have set up nearly 14,500 cyclone shelters. We are the first LDC to set up the Climate Change Trust Fund from our own resources. As of now, $415 million have been dispersed from the fund to support more than 800 adaptation and resilience-building related projects. The regional office of the Global Center on Adaptation for South Asia has also been established in Dhaka, Bangladesh to promote and disseminate the collective regional efforts for accelerating locally-based climate adaptation mechanisms. Bangladesh is the current chair of the Portgate Member Climate Vulnerable Forum. Since Bangladesh has taken over the presidency of the CBF, it has been raising the issue of displacement of climate-vulnerable communities, which is a form of laws and damage and different regional and international forums. Bangladesh believes that the international community should commence discussion on the creation of an appropriate framework to address the needs of climate migrants. Ladies and gentlemen, we need to remember that there is a limit of adaptive capacities, in particular by the vulnerable countries. Mass displacement due to climate change has severe impacts on the vulnerable communities. Moreover, climate financing remains severely under resource. In such scenario, I would like to flag the following suggestions. First, there is no alternative of taking immediate mitigation efforts to reduce emission of greenhouse gases by the major emitters, and they must aggressively meet their NDCs. Second, Bangladesh is of the view that climate change and related disasters is a development and economic issue and must be addressed in the context of international development cooperation. Third, major economies, especially G7, G20 and other major economies, need to come forward to provide educated resources and technology support to the most vulnerable countries to address the climate change. At least they should come up with USD $100 billion a year as promised at the Paris Agreement. Fourth, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement and the Sundae framework must be implemented in their true spirit. Fifth, as we are approaching the COP26, we need to create momentum to accelerate action plan to address migration and displacement in the context of climate change and environmental degradation. Sixth, Bangladesh needs to raise and broaden its embankments in the southern districts in order to improve both mitigation and adaptation measures. In addition, it must protect and preserve its main groups, Sundarbong, a global carbon sink for the benefit of the world. Therefore, it needs additional funds. Finally, Bangladesh strongly supports strict adherence to UN Global Compact for safe, orderly and regular migration and as a GCM champion country, Bangladesh emphasizes on the importance of international support for climate migrants. I thank you all. Jai Bangla, Jai Bangabandar. Thank you so much, minister. I praise very much your testimony for someone who is on the front line and has an extensive experience on mitigation and adaptation to climate change and its impact on human mobility. I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate from my side that we very much look forward to cooperate with the Climate Vulnerable Forum that Bangladesh is chairing. Now I think that we can move ahead and welcome the message that was sent to us by Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth, United Kingdom International Champion on Adaptation and Resilience for the COP26 presidency. We look forward to the event at the end of the year in November in Glasgow. So let's hear the message of Anne-Marie Trevelyan. Hello everyone. I'm delighted to be speaking to you all today and I'm incredibly grateful to be part of this panel. We all know that this is an absolutely vital year for climate action and today is a chance to discuss some of those key and complex dimensions of migration, climate and environmental change. Today is an opportunity to hear the challenges faced by countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. We know that the impact of COVID-19 has made action more difficult but we now have an opportunity to build back better, to support communities to adapt and to develop resilience whilst protecting our climate and our environment. I wear two hats in the UK government as Minister for Business Energy and Clean Growth and as the UK International Champion on Adaptation and Resilience for the COP26 presidency. With each day I've understood more how urgent the need for action to respond to climate risks really is. Natural disasters caused over $150 billion in losses in 2019 and displaced nearly 25 million people. In 2020 over 50 million people worldwide were affected by floods, droughts and storms and in extreme cases forced to move. According to the World Bank without action there could be 143 million internal migrants permanently displaced by climate change related phenomena by 2050 and existing evidence shows that climate extremes and environmental degradation are other amplifiers of migration drivers. The UK recognises the existential threat felt by some communities and that climate change will increasingly become a significant factor in driving people's decision to move. We must therefore learn from those who are on the front line and who have the most experience of tackling climate change. I also want to emphasise the importance of giving recognition to the essential leadership and efforts of women and girls in adapting to the impacts of climate change and climate shocks. They are disproportionately affected by the consequences of climate related displacement and we must therefore listen to these voices and ensure their needs are reflected in our discussions. Donors need to do more to support the adaptation agenda and to scale action which avert, minimises and addresses loss and damage. We urgently need to better understand the complex links between migration, climate change and environmental degradation to inform our policy and action. The UK has commissioned an assessment of existing evidence of how climate change and climate shocks impact migration to support this dialogue especially as we head towards COP26. The UK is also supporting countries with adaptation and resilience planning through major international climate funds like the Green Climate Fund and Programme Funding. We are fulfilling our pledge to attain the goals of the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction through our contributions to the risk informed early action partnership. Through this the UK is leading the way in scaling up early warning systems to make one billion people safer from disaster by 2025. We have also supported the efforts for the establishment of a high level panel on internal displacement which will look at climate change as a compounding factor contributing to internal displacement. The high level panel was submitted to report the UN Secretary General in September of this year with recommendations on how to resolve and prevent further displacement including through adaptation. We believe a successful COP26 will complement international processes around the movement of people and in particular the aims of the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration GCM. The UK continues to actively work towards implementation of the GCM and has committed £3 million to the UN Migration Trust Fund. We also look forward to participating in the International Migration Review Forum next year. The GCM provides support to our more focused work on climate change and environmental degradation and the UK will continue to put the needs of climate vulnerable countries front and centre in international discussions carrying the priorities we heard clearly at the Climate and Development Ministerial through to the G7, COP26 and beyond. One of our specific priorities for COP26 will be to increase action on adaptation and to avert, minimize and address loss and damage. We will use our presidency to encourage greater commitment to and support for practical action helping those communities most at risk to deal with the impacts of climate change and climate shocks affecting them now. Thank you. Thank you so much Minister and definitely from our side we very much look forward to COP26 debates and we rejoice with the fact that you made yourself the link between the debate in Glasgow in November this year and the role of the International Migration Review Forum in May next year where we will have the opportunity to take stock of the implementation of the global compact on safe orderly and regular migration that has one of the objectives and a number of actions for seeing and to tackle with the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation in human mobility. And now I turn to His Excellency Frank Tresler Zamorano the Ambassador Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations and International Organizations here in Geneva. We have worked together with the ambassador and with your country during your presidency of COP25. We know that Chile has been extremely active in dealing with the impacts of climate change in all southern America and we appreciate very much your participation. Ambassador you have the floor. Thank you very much DG Vittorino distinguished panelists and audience participants my dear friends through these words I would like to to let you know that when Chile became the chair of COP25 did so by being convinced that this is a collective task that should be resolved by the participation of all the actors involved likewise climate change is a problem as a problem is multi-dimensional and its solution should be comprehensive this is an effort from the public and the private sector from all the social stakeholders involved within the areas that are mostly affected by climate change we find mobility and human mobility forced migration caused by the by environmental degradation of their ecosystems this is a reality and sometimes it goes in a bi-rectional way because migratory flows cause environmental damage and this has effects on health and the living conditions of people COP25 promoted action of states both to counter the effects of climate change in in the present and avoid its consequences in the future taking into consideration the threats to our social and economic development and access to food and water to pandemic the COVID-19 pandemic that unleashed a global and unprecedented crisis and according to the WHO global warming is a key factor in the appearance of SARS-CoV-2 due to the reforestation and intensive agricultural practices and the trading of wild animals without protection among other factors contributed to the emergence of new diseases sonotic diseases and increased their dissemination at the same time the co-relation that exists between climate change natural disasters and human mobility demands the adoption of strategic and strategic plans under exhaustive analysis of migration promoted by the international migration organization this is a very complex landscape that should be tackled on their solidarity-based approach our minister said that pandemic could have stopped the world but not its environmental agenda through this year and last year as well Chile was recognized internationally for its commitment towards sustainability given despite the complex situation right away we have thought to have our own distinctive mark and included some innovative issues such as the relationship between oceans climate change the role of Antarctic as a climatic regulator worldwide and the necessary link between science and politics and finally the role of water resources worldwide as a cross cutting element to all climate action Chile within its implementation and UNFCCC has established a foreign policy established on the protection of oceans this line of action is based on an active presence abroad and in the the accruzion declaration in the COP 21 and COP 22 that have led to an intense round of meetings in collaboration with other countries and GOs and in the academia close to 25 percent of all the GHE are absorbed by oceans and this produces a salination effect loss of diversity and also due to the ice cap melting we see an increase in sea levels that affects the continental sea borders and threatens with threatens the existence of of small island states this is another specific examples with specific effects on mobility this is the subject of this talk and for COP 26 Chile mentioned the issue of oceans and climate change is a distinctive mark working with some countries to incorporate oceans within the COP agenda from the adaptation standpoint and in the path towards COP 26 we will still boost a blue agenda to promote evidence based and science and science projects on oceans climate adaptation has been a priority for our own country our high vulnerability and increase of climate events have generated a higher demand on resources to make great investments that will strengthen our adaptation capacity to that end our country has put into practice a lot of plans and initiatives to counter the effect of global warming in February 2020 we established the table human mobility and climate change coordinated by the national emergency round table together with the ministry of environment the ministry of home affairs and foreign affairs among others Chile has also incorporated the agenda for risks and disaster in the year 2010 in the South American meeting on migrations and which was retaken in 2015 during the presidency of Chile despite this progress the challenges posed by climate change still exist and the multiple risks represented by natural disasters and multidimensional effects at the economic cultural social level have become even more complex to the pandemic that we currently suffer from and finally the recent law enacted on migrations in my country adopts this perspective perspective of human rights and includes a paragraph on temporary residence for foreigners whose permanence in residence is due to human humanitarian reasons as a result of forced displacement Chile has made advanced advances towards carbon neutrality and wants to turn Santiago into the city with more electric driven buses we need to close also carbon carbon plants we also want to correct humidity in urban areas and we're also committed and we also understand that the challenges are still significant and therefore we should not squander any opportunity and think from a sustainability perspective this should be the growth and development perspective from the future thank you very much well thank you very much Mr. Ambassador especially for calling our attention to the relevance Chile has given to oceans and water resources in the fight against climate change thank you very much follow the list of our speakers and invite to take the floor of ice sarmat the deputy executive secretary of the united nation's framework convention on climate change person behind the recommendations of cop 24 and someone who knows very well iom i know and from our side we look forward to go on developing the cooperation with the secretariat of the UN FCCC together with our partners the UNHCR the platform of disaster displacement ILO and IDMC all right you have the floor director general it's a great pleasure great honor to for me to participate in this session thank you very much for your invitation and also greetings from the executive secretary patricia who could not be with us today but asked me to convey to you and to all the participants her commitment to this event and going forward in preparing for the call but once again distinguished panelists members of the panel uh fellow attendees ladies and gentlemen as I said it's a great pleasure to address this very timely discussion which is so instrumental as we work towards this year's milestone event which is cop 26 that'll take place in Glasgow later this year and I look forward to seeing many of you at that event later this year and as we work to address the links between climate change and vulnerable and displaced populations throughout the world this event is very meaningful extremely timely in preparation for that call we welcome the long-standing support and engagement of the international organization for migration with which I've had a very long relationship and extremely fortunate to be able to continue to contribute to the discussion that concerns both IOM and the UN climate change secretariat where I am at the moment it's heartening to see us working together to strengthen the important links between human mobility and climate change under the UNFCCC and global compact on migration dear colleagues we must pay particular attention to this great urgency but also the optimism and momentum that has now been generated we are reminded that we are in crucial days that many ultimately determine whether we successfully address climate change globally or not the recent world meteorological recent findings show that concentrations of the major greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase despite the temporary reduction in emissions in 2020 due to COVID-19 2020 what was one of the three warmest years on record despite a cooling because of the La Nina event and the past six years including 2020 are likely to be the sixth warmest years on record and many of those records are being broken as we speak consequently wildfires droughts flooding and other extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and ferocity and they're affecting millions throughout the world including our already very vulnerable populations that's just what's happening on land the oceans are warming and sea levels are rising as we just heard from the distinguished panelists from Bangladesh putting millions of people directly in danger this issue isn't going away because it's not convenient just because we are already dealing with the pandemic quite the opposite what we are seeing is only a preview of events if we don't get our collective acts together and address climate change domestically internationally and especially multilaterally not next year not by 2050 this year of those millions of people affected the most vulnerable suffer most of all that's why when we talk about climate change in terms of numbers statistics and economies we must never forget that the true impact of climate change is measured in human terms lives and livelihood we can save suffering we can avoid every one of them who count where people cannot get out of harm's way we see mass displacement people on the move not because of choice but because of desperation climate change is the heart and the great string tied to many of the world's most significant challenges well outlined in the SDGs and issues around displacement and migration are no different despite all the evidence all the numbers all the statistics all the displacement all the human misery nations still have to move the Paris agreement from adoption to implementation and I'll talk more about it in a minute they still have to fulfill their commitments under it yes we have seen momentum recently and we congratulate nations who have submitted significantly stronger national climate action plans plans where resilience and adaptation efforts can and should be directly addressed the bottom line is that nations must move even further radically and in a transformative way if we are to limit global temperatures by 1.5 degrees by the end of the century while we must always plan for the future we must always also focus on the task at hand nations must remember they have outstanding work to complete and commitments to keep this year remind remaining NDCs nationally determined contributions must be submitted this year therefore COP26 this year must be a success and there is no option we need greater ambition for mitigation adaptation and finance this year we need the hundred billion commitment on climate finance by developed countries who have made that promise to developing nations and that has to be fulfilled this year and to launch the work on the new long-term climate finance goal and why is that important to this panel let me share that with you because as I mentioned earlier climate change is not some distant threat it is impacting vulnerable people throughout the world right now the Paris agreement is now more than five years old developed nations have been discussing the hundred billion target as I mentioned for longer than that more than a decade unfortunately it's time to deliver on that commitment it's urgently needed we cannot and will not abandon the most vulnerable ambitions actions now and at COP26 will deliver more climate resilience specifically for the vulnerable we are talking about saving lives that's why we need solutions now 2021 must also be the year when tough decisions and significant progress need to be made by nations yet it also offers an unprecedented opportunity as nations build forward from COVID-19 to structure resilient sustainable and green post recovery economies aligned with the Paris agreement the milestone event for COP26 is now crucial and COP26 is nothing less than a credit credibility test and a trust building effort of our collective efforts to address climate change implement the Paris agreement and continue building ambition to achieve success at COP26 parties member states must fulfill promises previously made specifically the COP 16 cancun pledges outlining broad climate action by 2020 in particularly and I repeat this the mobilization of hundred billion commitment from developed nations to developing countries wrap up the outstanding negotiations items especially relating to the Paris agreement rulebook to ensure a swift effective and to fulfill implementation of the agreement and in particular article 6 which is to do with car crop and micro markets many of you would know that and then finally to raise ambition and mitigation adaptation and finance and bring state and non-state actors voices and their efforts together to continue build climate ambition and action completing this work means building trust and integrity in the multilateral process completing this work unleashes the potential of the Paris agreement completing this work also builds resilience especially for those at the front lines of the climate change struggle as Prime Minister of Fiji Bani Rama is now highlighted including those who may be displayed it's a rare moment that cannot be lost no nation can address climate change alone nor can nations alone do that this is why UN climate change our secretariat continues to work with both state and non-state actors in the spirit of what we refer to as inclusive multilaterals to achieve a unity of vision and continue advancing the climate agenda despite pandemic related challenges this includes through the implementation of the executive committee on Warsaw international mechanism on loss and damage where IOM is very active its purpose is to address loss and damage associated with impacts of climate change in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to it as custodian of the Paris agreement we and the climate change secretariat also help countries pre and adverse impacts of climate change by working with expert groups to provide technical support to all party and one particular group of that is the task force and displacement which is also very actively joined by IOM and we are very grateful for that national adaptation plans are yet another area where UN climate change secretariat helps nations plan and prepare for the impacts of climate change that affects displacement and of course we will continue to work with IOM on issues specific to the most vulnerable and migrants on the move we are also committed to collaborating with the UN network on migration which we are seeing a great progress that the network is making and I'm very very pleased to highlight that we are working very closely with the network and would like to reinforce our collaboration there and we are helping to co-lead the new migration and climate change activity in the UN migration network annual work work plan and other network members with other network members this joint work across the UN system will help us create synergies with the implementation of global compact or for safe orderly and regular migration colleagues we face incredible challenges ahead but I ask you to consider this you consider your central part in the important times in which we live never has a generation had the opportunity to change so much in so little time our collective climate agenda is significant our challenges many but we must get it right 2021 is the year we can do the year the world commits to making pivotal transformational change in global climate policy and action the year we finally move closer to implementing the Paris agreement and the year we finally unleash its true power and potential when the world needs it the most I encourage you to give everything you have this week and in all upcoming work to help achieve the success and on behalf of the entire secretary of climate change I want to sincerely thank you for your work your efforts for sharing this vision of a cleaner greener healthier and safer future for all this will achieve safe orderly and regular migration and once again grateful to have this opportunity direct to general and look forward to strengthening our ties closer even closer than we currently have between iom and unicruelcy back to you thank you very much thank you so much ovaid and as the secretary general of the united nations has been emphasizing the expectations are very high and we cannot deceive the world with the outcome of the cop26 we'll do our best to support you in achieving the results that we will expect but above all that the world needs and now I welcome the dr Yasmin Fuad minister of environment of Egypt you will join us from Cairo and you have been essential to the egyptian initiative that tries to bring to build together synergies between the three real conventions climate change biological diversity and desertification as well as being a very authoritative vice in co-leading the climate finance negotiation track during the cop24 in december 2018 so minister it's a pleasure to have you with us and you have the floor thank you very much for inviting me to that very important dialogue on migration let me add the first particularly the importance of not only linking migration to the climate change in the disaster risk management but also linking that as a preparation to the upcoming cop26 to the vital pillar of adaptation how can we better adapt our community our systems our infrastructure to be more resilient to the shocks of climate change and from that perspective I think that it's very important that we work together on three important points first of all have within the global goal on adaptation apart related to migration and the impact of those vulnerable group that would be impacted by the displaced modalities number two what will be the financial mechanisms that would be available either through the IOM or other UN agencies to plan together a full fledged strategy on climate adaptation and displacement due to migration number due to adaptation due to climate change impact number three which is very important stress on the importance that jointly with our developed countries work on like minimizing or de-risking the potential of the migration not only through the financial mechanisms but through local adaptation community based projects on areas that we know for sure that it is very vulnerable let me give a very quick example on that Egypt started like last year developing its all interactive map and this interactive map simply says whenever we're having an infrastructure project or demonstration or establishment of a new city urban city we put that on the map to see what will be the impact of the climate change on that very small area and on the jobs that are available and on the community will the community be displaced yes or no especially with the Nile Delta being one of the most vulnerable areas that will heavily be impacted to climate change so finally having technology financial mechanisms solidarity and coordination of having a strategy on how best can we serve those communities in the vulnerable areas and most of all having this part as part of the heart of the global world on adaptation within the upcoming Cup 26 thank you and over to you thank you so much minister for having called the attention not just on the fact that climate change impacts on vulnerable groups especially migrants but also those who are on the move can generate climate impacts and we need on both cases to guarantee adaptation and mitigation of the impacts of climate change we look forward to go on working with Egypt in this very important point of our common agenda and in this panel I will come to the hand which is the last panelist but definitely not the least I welcome very much the Andreas Papagonstantino who is director for Neighborhood and Middle East in the director general for European civil protection and humanitarian aid operations echo in the European Commission we have seen very attentively the European great great deal and we are looking forward to the role of Europe in the next Cup 26 so I welcome very much your comments Andreas you have the floor thank you very much dear director general Vittorino excellencies dear colleagues I'm delighted to be here today and I would like to thank the organizers of the IDM 2021 for staging this dialogue on such an important topic the impacts of climate change are here they're not something that we're going to face in a distant future but they affect disproportionately the the poorest and the most vulnerable people particularly in developing countries and climate change has become a major driver and amplifier of disasters and a source of instability and on top of that the the COVID crisis only adds to an already very concerning situation climate change is a priority as you mentioned dear director general for the European Commission and the European Union our ability to respond would transform lives and equally migration is a priority for us and I'm glad to see that we are on the same page since migration and climate change take center stage also in the IOMs strategic vision and strategic framework and at the European Commission level we are working across all policies also with like-minded actors and member states in developing our thinking and preparing our actions on the Cup 26 which you rightfully called an important milestone and we fully agree we are aware that in spite of the growing humanitarian impact of climate change far too little climate finance is reaching the most vulnerable countries to avoid more strain on the humanitarian system the European Union will continue to advocate for climate action budgets to be better targeted to the specific needs and contexts of these countries and communities that are particularly vulnerable in Cup 26 the European Union will submit the European Union's adaptation plans and actions under the Paris Agreement and we will deepen our political engagement on climate change adaptation with our international and regional partners and partner countries as you are aware the European Union has launched a new strategy on adaptation to climate change this adaptation strategy includes actions addressing climate change impacts in conflict and fragile settings in terms of making climate adaptation and conflict risk analysis climate sensitive that's a very important point for us we also recognize the importance of an all hazards approach to preparedness in our disaster preparedness approach and our guidance notes this includes the intersection of natural disasters and conflict both of which can be and are exacerbated by climate change but more evidence is needed to enhance our understanding and planning in relation to the impact of slow onset climate trends and environmental degradation and how they intersect with human mobility this is already being addressed in the work of organizations such as yours the IOM and also within the UNFCC but we need to strengthen our efforts as you know the EU has been a strong supporter for the inclusion of climate change and environmental factors in the text of the global compact on migration we will continue to promote actions that integrate human mobility within disaster risk reduction policies preparedness and early warning mechanisms as well as climate adaptation strategies regional activities can also support the implementation the follow-up and review process of the climate and environmental elements of the global compact for migration at the regional level it is our responsibility to address climate related displacement and human mobility challenges through meaningful and systemic solutions meaning solutions that bring together early warning tools and preparedness actions for better responding to climate related emergencies combined with prevention these solutions can offer sustainable futures for individuals who live in the most vulnerable environments the EU is supporting the solution these solutions through its climate adaptation its disaster risk reduction and emergency preparedness set of actions and we are investing heavily investing in early warning systems at country and community level also globally via our Copernicus emergency management service from a humanitarian perspective we strongly promote the integration of climate and environmental concerns into our humanitarian operations additionally we prioritize anticipation and early actions as part of our preparedness approach to anticipate risks to reduce the needs and mitigate impacts on the most vulnerable communities this includes climate change related risks but also other risks that cannot be ignored and one of them is the epidemics or conflict and considering how we are considering how risks can be interconnected all our sectoral interventions also include climate and protection concerns we target as I said the vulnerable people based on needs irrespective of status this has also been one of the priority objectives in our recently agreed by the College of Commissioners EU communication on humanitarian aid adopted under the leadership of Commissioner Lena Chich with the aim of mainstreaming climate change and disasters into humanitarian aid in strengthening the nexus approach and the aim of building resilience of vulnerable communities including those who are forcibly displaced we intend to look more into a multi-hazard preparedness approach focusing on natural hazards along with man-made threats like conflict violence epidemics like covid we want to promote a coordinated approach that links humanitarian and development assistance that's important to bring together risk reduction and resilience a pure nexus approach we are also engaging multilaterally as you know in 2022 the European Union will assume the chairmanship of the platform on disaster displacement this PDD as the acronym goes is a unique space that can advance stronger cooperation for the protection and assistance of people displaced in the context of disasters and climate change and moreover we also follow closely the work of the high-level panel on internal displacement established by the Secretary General in October 2019 to identify concrete recommendations on how to better present respond and achieve solutions to internal displacement in including those who are displaced as part of natural disasters and climate change the EU is among the main supporters of the HLP on internal displacement we will work closely dear Director General with all the main actors at the global level to promote stronger partnerships and policy coherence and of course with IOM and finally allow me to say something about the gender dimension climate change affects people differently depending on a number of factors women and girls in developing countries are particularly affected by the impact of climate change and environmental degradation as primary users and managers of natural resources women play an essential role for climate change mitigation and adaptation however they are prevented from participating equally in relating governance processes for multiple reasons the EU is determined to act on the gender dimension and this has been confirmed by the recently adopted gender action plan three of the European Union and once again many thanks for having me today thank you so much Andreas and from our side we very much welcome the communication on humanitarian hate and the link between humanitarian assistance and development in order to find durable solutions and I fully subscribe your approach women and girls are particularly eaten by climate change but they are also our best allies in coping in concrete terms with the minimization of those impacts that's our experience from the field thank you so much at this stage I would like to jointly thank all the panelists and now open the floor for the interventions of the member states I have already a first list of requests for speaking I will give the floor to the first four I will give the floor to Mrs. Daniela Rodriguez vice minister for multilateral affairs from Venezuela to Cathy Olt the office of the director and international office of migration in the Bureau of Population Refugees and Migrants PRM of the US mr Fernando de la Mora Sancedo coordinator of economic social human rights and humanitarian section of Mexico and last but not least definitely is excellency archbishop Ivan Djurkovich permanent observer from the Oly sea so these are the four first speakers and then all the others want to come in and to make statements please flag your interests so Mrs. Daniela Rodriguez vice minister of Venezuela you have the floor I would like to convey a brotherly message to the honorable director general of the IOM Antonio Victorino I would also like to give a warm greetings to mr. Volkland Vosker president of the 75th session of the general assembly Mrs. Amina Mohammed and the rest of panelists would like to greet you on behalf of our constitutional president Nicolas Maduro Moros and Jorge Arias at the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela would like to thank the IOM for the organization of this international dialogue on migration does provide an innovative approach tackling migrations caused by the degraded by the environmental degradation and climate change which is one of the main challenges that we must tackle as humankind currently the climatic climate issue is a political issue and Prince Maine impact is seen we will move ahead and then we will come back when the connection is re-established so now I give the floor to Cathy Olt from PRM United States I see her on the screen so Catherine you have the floor thank you director general thank you very much for convening the session of the 2021 international dialogue on migration and thank you for inviting the state department's bureau of population refugees and migration to participate in this very important discussion on the dimensions of environment and climate change and their impact on migration the Biden administration is deeply concerned about the climate crisis is committed to leading global efforts to address climate change and mitigate its impacts and has affirmed the need for international cooperation and ambition to meet the moment climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones droughts and other natural disasters is causing sea levels to rise and exacerbating resource competition and state fragility that results in conflict these and other impacts of climate change are proving to be an important factor in forced displacement and migration decisions the United States is committed to better understanding all of the dynamics involved and addressing the challenge of climate change its impact on migration to displacement and the need for planned relocation as part of this commitment President Biden issued an executive order in February calling on the United States government to prepare a report for the president on climate change and its impact on migration the report's development is a whole of government process with inputs from across federal agencies and in consultation with outside experts we are dedicated to inviting diverse perspectives from international organizations such as IOM civil society non-governmental organizations academia other governments and impact to communities in drafting this report the report will consider international security implications options for protection and resettlement of individuals displaced directly or indirectly by climate change U.S. foreign assistance to address climate change and migration and multilateral engagement the report will also assess and recommend ways for the United States to work collaboratively with other countries international organizations and bodies non-governmental organizations and localities on the intersection of climate change and migration the United States will use the findings of this report to inform our future policy responses foreign assistance and multilateral engagements targeting the nexus of climate change and migration we will act with the urgency that the climate crisis requires or collaboratively and collectively with the full range of stakeholders to respond to the challenges posed by climate related migration and displacement we are thankful to IOM for your efforts in this space and we look forward to continue collaboration with this body and other partners on this critical topic thank you thank you so much for your contribution and we very much look forward to the presidential order execution and I think that it is extremely important to count on the U.S. engagement in this agenda now I will give the floor to His Excellency Archbishop Ivan Zhurkovich from the Olysee thank you Director General first off I would like to apologize on behalf of His Excellency Archbishop Yurkovich who has another engagement that came up urgently but on his behalf I would share his statement Director General the Holy See delegation wishes to thank the panelists for their insightful presentations on a subject which is very dear to Pope Francis in highlighting the effects of climate change the lives of millions of displaced people he affirmed that to see or not to see is the question that should lead us to the answer in action together unlike the COVID-19 pandemic which came upon us unexpectedly the climate crisis has been unfolding for years and yet it remained undressed until recently the crippling consequences of the climate crisis is already a reality for millions of people worldwide while climate change occurs everywhere the capacity to respond and adapt to it varies greatly it is the poor and most vulnerable who are disproportionately affected by the ecological and climate crisis Director General it is vital to acknowledge that the climate crisis has a human face in this regard this delegation appreciates the work carried out by IOM to highlight the impact of climate change and environmental degradation on the migratory movements through the atlas of environmental migration when people are forced to flee because their local environment has become uninhabitable it might look like a process of nature something inevitable however the deteriorating climate is very often the result of poor choices and destructive activity of selfishness and neglect that sets humankind at odds with creation our common home Director General the human reality of migration as well as the issue of climate change required by their very nature and magnitude a collective and coordinated response by the international community no single state alone can manage the consequences and all states are affected to some extent in preparation for COP26 it is imperative that we address the human dimension of climate change without further delay as Pope Francis recalled recently there exists an ecological debt that we owe to nature as well as to peoples affected by human induced ecological degradation and loss of biodiversity these issues are not simply political or economic they're questions of justice a justice that can no longer be ignored or deferred indeed they entail a moral obligation towards future generations for the seriousness with which we respond to them will shape the world we leave to our children thank you Director General thank you so much and please convert my best regards to his excellency the Archbishop definitely the human dimension and the urgency of addressing this human rights approach that we follow is extremely important for us all let's hear from Mr. Ahandra Mr. Davalos we hear you well thank you Director General I would like to thank IOM for organizing our 2020 dialogue and all panelists for the contributions regarding such relevant matter we understand that over 21 million people are going to be displaced in the future in the coming years and without urgent action in the face of climate change many corners of our world will soon be inhabitable because of rising sea levels as well as global temperatures and the loss of farm farming and farmable land they're going to no not have any other option but to leave the place where they live otherwise we need to have integral and comprehensive proposals that would allow us to fight against climate change and reduce human mobility incited by climate change in Ecuador we have implemented a series of measures that seek to guarantee the rights of vulnerable peoples with a horizontal approach to gender and the human dimension we are currently developing a humanitarian visa to be extended to those who need it and we have added to our approach a series of public policies related to climate change as well as a national strategy against climate change as well as a national plan towards 2050 Mr. Director General it is clear that climate is thriving migration however the human dimension of the crisis has not captured the attention of the international community gay yet that's why we think that COP26 is going to be a wonderful opportunity to bring this topic to the table and establish sustainable policies that would allow us to ensure the dignity and rights of those displaced as well as the communities that receive them this topic could be included in the COP26 agenda in the second objective that highlights the need to adapt and protect communities and displaced groups so weak it is possible to protect and guarantee the rights of those displaced as a result of climate change while taking into account other international elements such as the global compact for migration as well as the 2030 agenda for sustainable development we are undergoing and living in a crucial time where we have the obligation to understand how we can secure future needs and respond to forced displacements due to climate change thank you very much well thank you very much Alejandro now I think I can go back to the order that I had noted down and pass the floor to Ahmad Mehdi from Algeria you have the floor thank you very much chair first of all I'd like to just introduce myself I'm the sub director for environmental cooperation in our foreign office I would like to represent there for my country in this discussion today and first and foremost really emphasize the importance of our work and our collaboration presidents excellencies delegates general secretary ladies and gentlemen participants I would like to thank the IOM for this opportunity today to really debate such a sensitive and important issue looking at the challenges posed by climate change we have listened to the previous speakers and we've really noted many of the statistics and many of the pieces of evidence put forward showing that climate change really does have a huge effect on migration and that this really needs to be taken into account in our actions I'd like to really emphasize the link here and the need to really move forward with our ambitious worldwide actions linked to this agenda to really mitigate the negative impacts of climate change and to put this as a priority on the agenda this is really something that is being prioritized in Algeria at the moment and we have various measures being put in place to try to really target the most vulnerable populations that are being affected by climate change and really underline the necessity to define global objectives to really set out our actions in a very specific way and have predictable and adequate ways of really implementing these on the ground it's important to really seize on this opportunity to meet our obligations to meet our targets in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and to make sure that developing countries are not only having to face the consequences but also contributing to our efforts to try to mitigate mitigate the effects of climate change it's important therefore to look at obligations under the Paris Agreement and look at how we can actually reinforce our efforts together and really put forward a solid basis on various levels for our financing efforts to really meet the Paris Agreement obligations on an overall level on an international level handling migration issues requires an inclusive approach particularly with regard to certain aspects we need above all to really look at the root causes of this issue and look at some of the objectives that are not necessarily directly environmental or climatic in nature we also feel that it is important to perhaps rethink some of the ways in which we can work on existing frameworks to really strengthen our resources and our abilities to respond to the specific situations we're facing it's important also to look at how to handle the issue of migration within a responsibility transfer process we need to really look at what's going on in terms of who is responsible for each part of a process how we can work together and how we can have results that are really suited to all parties involved in the best interest of all parties involved so I'd like to thank you very much for listening and I think that's it for now thank you thank you very much to Algeria for that contribution it's important to underline the fact that the global compact is a document that takes into account various lines of action and various elements of reflection when it comes to the link between climate change and the migratory flows that we are facing one of these aspects is moving forward to evaluating its application next year we've got this review process that is going to happen in New York and I hope you'll be present to Mr Albert Magalang from the Philippines you have the floor sir thank you very much director general so a warm welcome and warmest greetings from the Philippines literally warm Philippines so greetings also to the panelists participants and organizers of this first dialogue on migration which is a very timely and urgent international discourse dissecting the interrelationships and nexus between and among three intersecting issues climate change and environmental degradation and their impacts on migration director general accelerated and massive migration original costs for catalyzed by socioeconomic drivers is facing additional aggravation in the form of induced physical and human fats namely accelerated climate change and environmental degradation of course environmental issues affecting biophysical sources is one of the oldest migration drivers catalyzing conflicts over scarce resources but this seems to have been surpassed by the biggest most comprehensive and pervasive issue of our times which is climate change director general in olden times the interrelationship among environmental social and economic issues were not so clear or even incomprehensible but now even the rapid explosion of the COVID-19 pandemic a health and therefore a primarily social phenomenon has been unsurprisingly linked to the two major drivers of climate change and its aggravating impacts on an already degrading environment in this situation the ease of global mobility has become a major driver in the spread and reach of the severe health crisis but director general what is humanity really facing and how are we to put a stop to the unwanted interactions among this complex interrelated phenomena if we analyze closely and honestly the species at the center of them all catalyzing or mediating these interactions are humans of course two-thirds of the problem can probably be claimed as emanating from natural physical processes but it cannot be ignored that humanity has altered the pace of physical and socioeconomic interactions such that the natural order of things has been upset the main element at the nexus of these physical and socioeconomic processes are humans director general accepting the fact that we the human species are key to getting everything back contract is the first important step we have to take and we did take those first steps we only have to reflect on what we agreed at the earth summit in rio in 1992 and to execute the essence of the agreements reached to which is a gender 21 and the two environment-centric conventions the un framework convention and climate change the convention and biologically biological diversity and now we have the migration agreements embodied by the un global compacts on migration and the international convention and the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and the members of their families director general let us recall however that there are differentiation and in obligations between sets of parties according to cause and effects of the problems and respective capabilities of parties to determine the solutions it has also become a sense of the fact that setting things back on track to acceptable normalcy would incur costs that some groups of country parties would find difficult to defray the bins of implementation in the form of finance including for technology acquisition development diffusion and transfer as well as capacity building our key to getting us back on pre-crisis and perhaps even on better resilience mode the modalities of how to make this MOI flow have also been a greater pan so let us not therefore try and renegotiate these agreed modalities primarily and acceptable is the shifting of obligations to parties with less and the least capabilities because they have not had the full know-how competency and the financial resources to execute the solutions looking and shifting to markets the obligation to implement the solutions may be cost effective but it is not fully feasible noting that the complicated prerequisites to be put in place to enable this modality to function efficiently and effectively director general governments which are parties to these agreements have therefore to take direct responsibility for the delivery on commitments this is the fastest route to solving the problems whether the entry points chosen are tackling the biophysical issues or the perceived more direct social entry points like through the migration route however as humanity is dealing with risks involving these three issues it is the logical option to apply the risk management approach opting for prevention or impact avoidance as the highest or most immediate objective secondarily risk reduction and lastly management of manifested impacts in terms of loss and damage when a risk materializes in its full form thank you director general thank you so much thank you so much for your very fruitful contribution and definitely we hope the top member states will raise to their responsibilities in the COP26 as you appealed for now I would like to give the floor to junia natranno from Japan sir you have the four thank you mr antonio vitrino director general iom for organizing and moderating the panel one of the idm 2021 I'm also grateful to distinguish speakers of the panel for your insightful views on migration and displacement in the context of climate change and the environment I'll be brief the adverse effects of climate change and environmental degradation act as multipliers of risk by exaggerating the pre-existing vulnerabilities and insecurities that lead to migration and displacement addressing the threats requires a holistic approach putting people as a center and advancing human security nexus which are the comparative advantage of the IOM indeed japan has great assets of collaboration with IOM in enhancing and realizing concept of human security on the ground addressing the issue of migration of migration and displacement japan believes that assisting developing countries in their efforts to address climate change and disaster risk reduction will contribute to the prevention and future prevention of future forced migration in countries prone to climate related challenges in this context japan has provided public and private climate finance annually amounting to approximately 1.3 trillion japanese yen which is equivalent to about 11.8 billion u.s dollars japan has announced that we would make contribution of up to three billion u.s dollars to the great green climate fund we understand IOM is one of the important implementing agencies of this fund japan will continue to work closely with IOM and other partners to address migration and displacement in the context of climate and environmental change thank you mr chair thank you so much for your engagement and commitment and for the collaboration that we have at IOM with japan and the last speaker is in my list is a new attempt to get vice minister Daniela Rodríguez I hope that the link works now minister I think that now you are connected so welcome once again and please the floor is yours well fortunately so once again I would like to send a brotherly regard to your team I know you've been patient enough with us and with technology today and so we were thanking the IOM for the organization of this event and the approach that is so innovative and for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela dealing with the climate issue is also a political a political has also political scope because it it is based on social organization and it's the people that indiscriminately suffer the onslaughts of nature additionally there's an interesting phenomenon here and it's that migratory crisis and climate change come or share a route that is the capitalist model fed by the instrumentalization of nature by exploitation by the destruction of habitat and by consumerism these are all processes that go hand in hand with the accumulation of capital and that have as a consequence the accumulation of inequalities that undoubtedly have a terrible effect both on nature as on society itself thus in our opinion it is key to tackle the root causes of migration as well as the root causes of the situation of our planet which is the sixth largest distinction in natural history we must talk about the inequality situation of consumer consumerism neoliberalism as a civilization model if we go further into the particular situation of our country Venezuela faces important challenges from the point of view of adherence to commitments in this regard and also to guarantee the protection of our habitats and our peoples Venezuela is a country that is a is a signatory and that complies with the global compact on migration and with the United Nations framework of tension and climate change in our country will have seen an increase of close to five degrees by the end of the century and this will have an impact on the internal population organization right now over 19 percent of our population is in coastal areas areas that will be affected by these natural transformations another additional challenge of our country is the progressive practice of some countries to impose on electoral strains that affect not only national mitigation measures and preparedness against changes within the fight against climate change and migration but which affect the fulfillment of the commitments and the pledges established in the framework convention and we would like to call on countries to work under the base of solidarity respect and we would like to urge countries to stop imposing coercive measures because not only does it affect public order but it prevents us from establishing fruitful relations that are needed to tackle and combat these global issues that could not be tackled but through the recognition of interdependence of our countries and of our peoples would like to reaffirm our commitment to the principle of shared responsibilities but differentiated responsibilities and the adoption of effective measures that will allow us to tackle the root causes of migration from an approach from the protection of human rights we will also like to call on multilateral and bilateral cooperation on this matter it will not be possible to address these global challenges if as regions we do not communicate and coordinate properly based on the purposes and the objectives of the charter and the SDGs that bring us together in this great battle and to finish I would like to bid farewell by thanking the honorable ambassador Volkan Boski president of the 75th session of general assembly honorable Antonio Vittorino director general of the IOM and Ms. Amina Mohammed deputy secretary general of the united nations thank you very much and please you can count on my country to keep on working together for the fulfillment of the objectives that we've established in this regard thank you vice minister we have listened to everything that you've said perfectly well I don't have any further requests for the floor so I think that we are approaching an end to our first day of the IDM I rejoice myself for the fact that everybody recognized that we are putting on the table a very relevant and timely issue and we look forward for the exchanges of views not only among member states but also with the civil society with the academic in academia in the course of these IDM 2021 and therefore from my side I would like to reiterate my thanks to the panelists for their contribution and also to express my wish of a very fruitful debate and to conclude my participation I think that I will close the meeting now thank you so much and have a nice day thank you very much director general thank you thank you