Switzerland - The first comprehensive modular training manual dedicated to the issue of human mobility and environmental and climate change: Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Training Manual (Facilitators’ Guide) has been launched during the IOM’s 107th Council.

The manual was developed as part of IOM’s Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Evidence for Policy (MECLEP) project funded by the European Union. Financial support was also provided by the IOM Development Fund.

The manual comes at a time when there is an increasingly urgent need to address the impact of climate change on human mobility. At the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2015, the Parties adopted the Paris Agreement, which for the first time specifically referred to migration and human mobility, acknowledging climate change impacts on migrants. 

At COP22 in Marrakech in November 2016, climate migration remained high on the agenda, and progress was made on the COP 21 Decision on Loss and Damage, which requested the establishment of a Task Force on Displacement, involving relevant organizations such as IOM “to develop recommendations for integrated approaches to avert, minimize and address displacement related to the adverse impacts of climate change.”

The New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, adopted in September 2016, also acknowledged environmental change and climate change as drivers of migration, and formally recognized the migration-environment nexus.

To address migration and climate change, States require capacities to anticipate and manage the effects of climate change, while integrating the associated migration risks and opportunities. IOM is committed to building the capacity of policymakers with tools and years of experience as the leading agency on Migration, Environment and Climate Change.

Since 2013, IOM’s capacity building programme has already benefited about 40 countries globally, including the MECLEP project countries and Morocco, host of COP22, where the manual was pilot tested and validated.

IOM training workshops aim to build the capacity of policymakers and practitioners to integrate migration and environment in policy-making, enabling them to propose concrete national policy and programmatic recommendations.

The Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Training Manual (Facilitators’ Guide) provides an in-depth overview on the concepts of the migration-environment nexus, mobility and disasters and slow-onset events, data, legal issues, regional perspectives, and a step-by-step roadmap on how to integrate human mobility into policies, including climate change adaptation policies.

The Training Manual was developed through a process of collaboration with MECLEP partners, experts and policymakers and has been pilot tested in seven countries before its release. This participatory training tool is available in English, French, Spanish, Russian and Azerbaijani to respond to global demand and allow IOM to deliver regular workshops at the request of Member States.

For further information on the Training Manual, please go to: www.environmentalmigration.iom.int/training-manual or contact Sieun Lee at IOM HQ, Tel: +41 022 717 9553, Email: silee@iom.int