Report Summer Academy 2010

Protecting environmental migrants: creating new policy and institutional frameworks

25–31 July 2010 at Schloss Hohenkammer

The Summer Academy is devoted to the subject of vulnerability research. Its objective is to analyse the gaps existing in science, politics and working practice, and to develop potential solutions. This involves close cooperation between experts from industrialised, emerging and developing countries. The 2010 Academy was a continuation of our work in the field of environmental migration. We had already dealt with a number of important issues back in 2008 and 2009. This is urgently necessary, given the International Organisation for Migration’s (IOM, Geneva) estimates that around 175 million people are currently living in a state of migration. The month of August 2010 was another demonstration of the dramatic surge in weather-related natural catastrophes: heatwaves and huge forest fires, e.g. in Russia, and the hundred-year flood in Pakistan are forcing more and more people to migrate.

An interdisciplinary approach
This year, Hohenkammer hosted participants from Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mexico, the USA, Bangladesh, China, India, New Zealand, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Romania, Switzerland and Hungary. The 20 young scientists and ten senior experts from these 17 countries developed scenarios for improving the protection of environmental migrants at international and regional level. The abundance of interdisciplinary expertise stood the working groups in good stead: the jurists, anthropologists, geographers and sociologists presented their findings to internationally renowned experts of the IOM, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR, Geneva) and the European Committee on Migration (CDMG, Brussels) during the week-long event. Together, in a dialogue process, they then drew up practicable and convincing ideas and recommendations.
 
A new framework for sustainable solutions
Natural hazards and challenges also caused by climate change are increasing around the globe. Additionally protection gaps in the area of environmental migration are obvious. Therefore the Academy’s participants recommend that policymakers should create adequate legal frameworks including complete mechanisms for transparency. The Guiding Principles on Internally Displaced Persons, for instance, should include those individuals affected by climate change.  Resettlement policies need to be formulated at national level. Plans have to be posted to the public so that they are readily available for all stakeholders.
Solutions must be developed in cooperation including local input as an important factor for  the strategy. Plans must furthermore offer options for those who choose to remain or cannot migrate. The Academy’s participants recommend that an official should be designated to coordinate issues related to environmentally induced migration at national level. In addition to this a valid data scheme is urgently needed: the social, cultural and environmental impact indicators have to be assessed in every vulnerable region and at potential resettlement sites. The young scholars consider it necessary to promote the professionalisation of those dealing with resettlement, individuals and institutions. This is a precondition to efficiently assist the government officials. Only then can resettlement preparedness be improved in the long and short term. Furthermore, local cultural knowledge must be cultivated, since it is imperative for success. The leveraging of synergies is important: disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and local knowledge must be combined to finally allow sustainable development.
 
Conceivable strategies for international migration
It is important to reduce irregular migration in order to avoid calamities and uncontrollable situations. In the context of planned climate-induced migration from country to country, two broad strategies are thinkable: adaptation and protection. These apply to migrants as well as to the destination and source countries in the face of climate change. States should offer the most vulnerable communities new opportunities to migrate legally. Alternative livelihood options should be considered. International migration due to weather extremes will also be inevitable. National governments should establish a temporary bilateral relocation scheme for those displaced as a result of a rapid (e.g. floods and heavy rains) and/or slow onset (e.g. drought or sea level rise) of climate change.
 
The way ahead 
The Academy’s findings will be presented to the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in November 2010 as well as at the World Climate Summit COP 16 in Jukatan, Mexico in December. The results may give political efforts a major impetus. This is urgently required, especially if climate change and migration continue to further accelerate.

Munich, 16 August 2010