Mr. Chairman,

Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are pleased to have the opportunity to participate in today's
debate and would like to focus our intervention on the
Secretary-General's report on the “Follow-up to and
implementation of the Mauritius Strategy for the Further
Implementation of the Programme of Action for Sustainable
Development of Small Island States” (A/63/296).

Environmental factors have long had an impact on global
migration flows. The scale of such flows, both internal and
cross-border, is expected to rise significantly over the next
decades as a result of climate change as indicated by the
successive reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), including its most recent Fourth Assessment Report, and as
recognized by the United Nations. Interactions between these
phenomena are complex and include not only the impacts of
environmental factors on migration, but also the effects of
migration on the environment. A consensus is emerging in the
international community on the need to improve the understanding of
environmental issues and their migration implications and to plan
for, adapt to and mitigate the processes and effects of
environmental change for human mobility.

And while much of this debate is still in its infancy and our
knowledge very preliminary , the Secretary-General's report points
out that other areas are no longer vague, but already facts, as
“almost all small island developing States are witnessing the
rapid migration of their people from their outer islands and
hinterlands to urban areas”. And while migration is not a new
phenomenon for small islands developing states, the impacts of
climate change increase the migratory pressure .

Mr. Chairman,

Because so many facts are still under-documented and further
research is badly needed, IOM in collaboration with UNU and with
sponsorship of the Rockefeller Foundation is developing a State of
the Art Review of Migration and the Environment Research. IOM will
commission seven studies, focusing on

(i) Conceptualizing the migration and environment;

(ii) challenges to measuring the migration and environment
nexus;

(iii) collecting data on the migration and environment;

(iv) migration and natural disasters;

(v) migration and chronic environmental degradation;

(vi) managing environmentally induced migration; and

(vii) legal frameworks and policy responses.

Furthermore, in order to create an appropriate informal
framework for efficient, coherent and cross-cutting cooperation in
the field of climate change and environmentally induced migration,
IOM, together with UNEP, UNU and the Munich RE Foundation is
working on the establishment of the Climate Change, Environment,
and Migration Alliance (CCEMA) to be launched at the Conference of
State parties of the UNFCCC in Poznan in December. The Alliance is
based on the existing collaboration among the above-mentioned
agencies and is conceived as a multi-stakeholder global partnership
of concerned actors such as international organizations, interested
groups of states and representatives of the private sector, the
scientific and professional community and civil society. These
actors represent a range of perspectives including environment,
migration, development and humanitarian assistance. The Alliance
aims to bring migration considerations to the environment,
development and climate change agendas. This objective will be
pursued through a combination of awareness-raising, research,
policy development and practical actions.

Lastly, IOM - in the framework of its inter-agency work on
humanitarian assistance - collaborates with UNHCR, the IFRC and the
RSG for Human Rights of IDPs and other interested IASC
organizations to define a shared understanding about the main areas
of concern and propose appropriate terminology and typology on
migration and displacement and climate change. This analysis will
contribute to the broader issue of humanitarian action and climate
change.

Mr. Chairman,

IOM will continue working towards developing a comprehensive and
proactive approach to addressing the migration related consequences
of climate change from a human security perspective. This approach
also involves recognizing migration as a possible element of
broader adaptation strategies while seeking to increase the
resilience of vulnerable populations to the impacts of climate
change and environmental degradation. The efforts to increase the
adaptive capacities of vulnerable populations need to include
better management of “environmental migration”. It is
crucial to understand that environmental migration is a
multidimensional issue, requiring an interdisciplinary
approach.

IOM welcomes the growing recognition of the linkages between
environmental degradation, climate change and migration by the many
relevant actors and is particularly pleased that the Government of
Greece, who will host the third Global Forum on Migration and
Development next year, is considering the climate change, migration
and development nexus  as one of the potential focuses.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, IOM is working closely with a broad
range of relevant actors to bridge the existing policy, research
and operational gaps in addressing the consequences of climate
change and environmental degradation for human mobility both in
terms of the emergency and humanitarian assistance as well as on
the development and adaptation side. 

I thank you, for your attention.