2010 Summer Academy on social vulnerability

Protecting environmental migrants: creating new policy and institutional frameworks

25 – 31 July 2010 at Schloss Hohenkammer

The Munich Re Foundation and the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU – EHS) announce the fifth annual Summer Academy on Social Vulnerability. The theme of the 2010 Summer Academy is "Protecting environmental migrants: creating new policy and institutional frameworks".

Applications are required to be submitted online at www.ehs.unu.edu not later than 15 January 2010.
 
The Summer Academy is designed to bring Ph.D, LLM and SJD students together with senior United Nations University and Munich Re Foundation scientists, international experts, and academic professors to facilitate the mutual exchange of research and scholarship on climate change and social vulnerability. The 2010 program will invite a group of outstanding students from graduate programs around the world to participate with experts in mapping a set of potential policy and institutional frameworks to help address the humanitarian and human rights impacts of forced migration related to climate change.
The week-long program will focus on specific country and regional level challenges related to human migration and displacement, with a view to identifying the gaps in policy, law and institutions needed to protect vulnerable groups.

Protecting environmental migrants: creating new policy and institutional frameworks
Climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions is now, at some level, irreversible. Researchers predict that as average temperatures increase, natural disasters will grow in intensity and frequency. The poor in developing countries are the most vulnerable to these disasters, including prolonged drought, water scarcity, food insecurity, spread of disease, and job loss. Disasters, such as storm surges, floods and hurricanes may also cause the destruction of homes and infrastructure, leading to additional humanitarian crises. Some level of displacement and/or migration among those in affected communities is likely: research suggests that some people are already engaging in migration as a coping strategy for climate shocks. These issues present key challenges for governments, particularly for both sending and receiving countries where migrants cross borders to protect their lives or livelihoods.

Further information

For further information please download the Announcement for the Summer Academy 2010 or contact Ms. Xiaomeng Shen (shen@ehs.unu.edu) at UNU-EHS.