That is why the BMZ promotes innovative strategies on urban planning, which take into account both current and expected migration scenarios and climate risks and also involve migrant groups in planning processes.
Village in the Somali region of Ethiopia where nomads have settled because of the ongoing drought
Copyright© Michael Gottschalk/photothek.net
Climate change and development Migration and climate
Developing countries are particularly affected by climate change, yet their resources for addressing the consequences are limited. For the people there migration can be an adaptation strategy. If migration is planned with an eye to the future and using safe routes, new opportunities are opened up not just for the migrants themselves. It can also make a positive contribution to all aspects of economic, ecological and social development in the countries of origin and in host regions.
Climate change is affecting different genders in different ways. That is why it is important to take a gender-responsive approach when dealing with climate migration.
Human mobility in the context of climate change is a cross-cutting issue in German development cooperation. It provides a number of starting points and working areas.
German activities
Strengthening cities as the main destination of climate migration flows
Background facts International processes
When it comes to migration and displacement in the context of climate change, politics, the private sector, academia and society need to work together to develop coping strategies. Cooperation at the international level is important, too. Climate change is a global phenomenon and it is becoming more and more clear that it is resulting in migration and displacement worldwide.
That is why Germany is supporting relevant international processes.
Task Force on Displacement
At the climate conference in Paris in 2015, Germany called for a working group to be set up on climate change-induced displacement and migration. The task force took up its work in early 2017 and presented its recommendations at the climate conference in Katowice, Poland at the end of 2018. In its Plan of Action (External link) the Task Force on Displacement (External link) sets out a number of activities for compiling and making use of collective experience and knowledge. It publishes periodic status reports with information on its ongoing activities.
Initiatives to manage climate risks
The BMZ works to facilitate the implementation of the Sendai-Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (External link) of the United Nations both at policy-making level and through concrete development cooperation projects. The aim of the Framework is to avert disasters and minimise existing disaster risks and provide post-disaster recovery support.
The BMZ is also represented in the advisory body of the World Bank’s Global Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR (External link)). The partnership programme supports low and middle income countries in their efforts to analyse and lessen their risks from natural disasters and climate change. The BMZ is contributing financially to the GFDRR’s trust fund and to other climate risk initiatives (for instance, the Climate Risk & Early Warning Systems (External link) initiative).
In close cooperation with the Vulnerable Twenty (External link) (V20) group of the most vulnerable developing countries the G7 is setting up a Global Shield against Climate Risks. It is to provide quicker and more effective protection against the financial implications of climate risks such as extreme weather events for people and countries that are especially vulnerable and affected by poverty.
The Protection Agenda
The BMZ supports the proposals made in the Protection Agenda endorsed by the Nansen Initiative in October 2015. The initiative was launched with the goal of providing better protection for people forced to migrate because of natural disasters.
The Protection Agenda comprises the following objectives:
- improved management of displacement risks in affected countries,
- improved humanitarian protection for cross-border migration and
- improved data and knowledge base.
A Platform on Disaster Displacement (External link) was set up to help implement the Protection Agenda. Germany presided over the Platform until the end of 2017 and, since then, has been a proactive member and important supporter.
Global Compact for Migration
Germany was actively involved in the negotiations for the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM (External link)) and fosters the implementation of the Compact. Recommendations made by the Compact include better analyses and exchange formats with regard to mobility patterns resulting from climate-related extreme weather events and slow-onset environmental changes. The aim is to develop effective adaptation and resilience strategies, in particular for the countries of origin of the migrants.
On top of that the GCM is aimed at drawing up strategies at both the regional and the international level to effectively address the challenges of migration and displacement in the context of climate change.
High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement
In 2019, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched the High-level Panel on Internal Displacement (External link). It has drawn up concrete recommendations on how to better prevent and respond to internal displacement. Together with the Federal Foreign Office the BMZ is supporting the implementation of the recommendations (External link) of the expert group and the Action Agenda on Internal Displacement.
The final report of the panel (External link) explicitly includes internally displaced persons who have had to flee the consequences of climate change. It makes the case for shifting priorities from humanitarian to development-oriented approaches, for instance through climate change mitigation and adaptation measures and targeted support for projects that increase people’s resilience.
The UN Secretary-General has published an Action Agenda for Internal Displacement (External link) that builds on the recommendations made by the panel. In this document, the United Nations commit, for example, to reducing the risks of displacement caused by climate change and natural disasters.
- Implementing the Commitments Related to Addressing Human Mobility in the Context of Disasters, Climate Change and Environmental Degradation – A Baseline Analysis Report Under the Global Compact Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration External link
- Human Mobility in the Context of Disasters, Climate Change and Environmental Degradation – Ten Insights from the GCM Baseline Mapping Report External link
- The landscape of financing options to address human mobility in the context of climate change. Instruments and approaches to finance measures on climate change related migration, displacement and relocation External link
- Fact sheet: The landscape of financing options to address human mobility in the context of climate change External link
- Groundswell Africa: Internal Climate Migration in the Lake Victoria Basin Countries External link
- Groundswell Africa: Internal Climate Migration in West African Countries External link
- Human Mobility in the Context of Climate Change – Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Eastern Caribbean External link
- Planning for the future – Using scenario planning to improve the understanding and management of climate-induced migration External link
- Human Mobility, Climate Change and Gender: Compendium of Best Practices, Lessons Learnt and Tools for Pacific Practitioners External link
- Overview of Fiji’s Response to International Frameworks on Human Mobility in the Context of Climate Change External link
- Home Lands – Island and Archipelagic States’ Policymaking for Human Mobility in the Context of Climate Change: Executive summary External link
- Home Lands – Island and Archipelagic States’ Policymaking for Human Mobility in the Context of Climate Change: Full report External link
- GIZ Factsheet: Human Mobility in the Context of Climate Change – Migration, Displacement and Planned Relocation in the Eastern Caribbean, the Pacific and the Philippines External link
- Climate Change Impacts on Human (Im-) Mobility in Sub-Saharan Africa. Recent Trends and Options for Policy Responses External link
- Scoping Paper: Climate Change, Human Mobility and Climate Risk Insurance Tools External link
As at: 13/07/2023