Nairobi – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and partners; the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) (hosted under United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), have brought together representatives from IGAD member countries to discuss the impact of climate change on human mobility and regular migration pathways within the IGAD region. 

The IGAD region comprises eight countries, namely Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. The region is considered one of the most vulnerable to climate variability and change. It regularly faces natural hazards such as droughts, floods, and even landslides which often lead to human mobility including displacement at a large scale across the region each year. Today, data from humanitarian agencies shows that over 2 million people have been internally displaced in Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia due to drought. The different forms of human mobility to, from, and within the IGAD region reflect the range of complex drivers and structural factors that may compel people to leave their places of origin. 

The workshop aims to foster dialogue, establish synergies and partnerships among stakeholders addressing challenges and opportunities facilitating regular migration pathways, promoting sustainable development, just transition and green jobs in the context of disasters, environmental degradation and climate change in the IGAD region, based on existing data and evidence. It is also part of efforts to prepare for the IGAD Regional Consultative Process (RCP) on migration focusing on the human mobility and climate change nexus, which is envisioned to take place in mid-2023.   

The workshop in Nairobi, Kenya is being held through the support from the Migration Multi Partner Trust Funded Joint Programme “Addressing Drivers and Facilitating Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in the Contexts of Disasters and Climate Change in the IGAD Region.” 

It is bringing together representatives from IGAD member countries working on human mobility, climate action, green jobs and just transition, disaster risk reduction, protection as well as representatives of local, national and regional partners, including migrants and local community leaders.

The Joint Programme was established to enhance the implementation of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM), and is aligned with the Paris Agreement, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The GCM anchors the environmental and climatic dimensions of migration in the international migration governance agenda. It offers a space to fully acknowledge the importance of climatic and environmental drivers, the multi-causality of migration and the impacts of migration on the environment. In this context, well-coordinated, collaborative, whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches are even more critical.

For media inquiries, contact Kenneth Odiwuor, Communications and Public Information Officer at IOM Regional Office for East and Horn of Africa, Email: kodiwuor@iom.int, Tel: +254 722560363