By Soumyadeep Banerjee, Climate Action Division, International Organization for Migration (IOM)

The 2010 Cancun Adaptation Framework (Decision 1/CP.16) was the first decision text of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that mentioned human mobility in the context of climate change. Paragraph 14f invited parties to enhance understanding, coordination, and cooperation on human mobility (viz., climate change-induced displacement, migration, and planned relocation).[1] Since then, key decision texts of the UNFCCC Conferences of the Parties (COPs) mentioned human mobility, including the Paris Agreement (Decision 1/CP.21), the recommendations of the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (Decision 10/CP.24), the establishment of the Fund to Respond to Loss and Damage (Decision 2/CP.27), and the operationalisation of the Fund to Respond to Loss and Damage (Decision -/CP.28).

COP29 is a key milestone for human mobility in the context of climate change. Substantive progress was made on this issue. The decision text on Global Goals on Adaptation mentions ‘migrants’ in paragraph 21d[2] and the decision text on the New Collective Quantified Goal mentions ‘migrants and refugees’ in paragraph 26.[3] This could facilitate the integration of human mobility-related measures in adaptation planning. Though a consensus could not be reached by the Parties on the Review of the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage at COP29, feedback on the work of the Task Force on Displacement was generally positive. The mainstreaming of human mobility in the context of climate change was also observed in the key initiatives by the COP29 Presidency, namely the Baku Call on Climate Action for Peace, Relief, and Recovery[4] and the Baku Guiding Principles on Human Development for Climate Resilience[5]. During COP29, UNFCCC also published the Technical Guide on Integrating Human Mobility and Climate Change Linkages into Relevant National Climate Change Planning Processes.[6] This product provides guidance for mainstreaming human mobility into adaptation planning processes, for example, the formulation and implementation of National Adaptation Plans.

Following the trend established at COP27, an increasing number of entities—including government bodies, UN organizations, international organizations, civil society groups, universities, private sector representatives, migrants, internally displaced persons, and refugees—participated in human mobility-related side events at COP29. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been actively supporting its member states and partners in addressing the challenges and opportunities related to human mobility through policy and programmatic actions at the global, regional, national, and local levels.[7]

COP30 will take place in Belem in less than a year. Some concrete actions could help to build upon the gains from COP29:

1. Relevant entities should raise awareness among human mobility-related stakeholders at the national and sub-national levels (i.e., province, district, and community) about the progress in addressing human mobility that was achieved at COP29. The COP decision texts support the inclusion of human mobility-related stakeholders in the planning of climate action, especially climate change adaptation and response to loss and damage, and should be fully leveraged to this end.
2. The dissemination of the Technical Guide among the human mobility-related stakeholders at the national and sub-national levels will help develop their capacities as well as mainstream human mobility in relevant planning processes.
3. Bringing together relevant stakeholders in each country, i.e., sectoral government entities, local government entities, UN Organisations, international organizations, civil society organizations, universities, the private sector, migrants, internally displaced persons, and refugees will help jointly develop context-specific, gender-responsive and rights-based engagement plans for COP30, to ensure we continue progressing along this journey.

[1] https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2010/cop16/eng/07a01.pdf

[2] Global goal on adaptation | UNFCCC

[3] New collective quantified goal on climate finance | UNFCCC

[4] COP29 Presidency Launches Baku Call on Climate Action for Peace, Relief, and Recovery

[5] Baku Guiding Principles on Human Development for Climate Resilience

[6] WIM_ExCom_human-mobility_TFD_2024.pdf

[7] https://environmentalmigration.iom.int/human-mobility-cop-29

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this piece are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of AIDMI.