Mr. President,

Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) appreciates
the opportunity to participate in this thematic debate on climate
change, to include the perspective of climate change, environmental
degradation and migration.

As we have heard throughout this debate, the discussion on the
impact of climate change and environmental degradation on human
mobility is not entirely new. Already in 1990, the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had noted that
"the greatest single impact of climate change could be on human
migration – with millions of people displaced by shoreline
erosion, costal flooding and agricultural disruption". Yet, until
recently, comparatively little attention has been paid to the
long-term migration consequences of predictable environmental
forces. Therefore it is an important and timely development that
the discussion on climate change, including environmental
degradation and its nexus to migration has been revitalized and
stimulated by the various debates here at the UN.

Mr. President,

Both gradual climate change (climate processes) and great
natural disasters (climate events) will put at risk the
inhabitants, particularly indigenous peoples, of coastal regions,
low lying islands, and areas susceptible to drought, and may force
them to move to safer areas. While no consensus exists whether or
not migration can be considered as a way of adaptation or as a
failure of adaptation strategies , it is often a survival mechanism
for those affected.

The implications of the climate change and migration nexus for
human vulnerability, including its potential for sparking new and
reigniting old conflicts, are yet to receive sufficient attention
both from policy-makers and researchers. IOM is currently promoting
policy dialogue and research on this nexus:

First, to establish effective policy approaches for managing the
migratory causes and consequences of global environmental change,
governments and other stakeholders need to address a number of
broad policy challenges, namely

• Enter into a multi-stakeholder and multi-disciplinary dialogue
  and cooperation;
• Commence early planning to address migratory consequences and
  causes for environmental change;
• Leverage the development potential of migration as an
  adaptation strategy;
• Improve capacity building and awareness-raising.

To advance this multi-stakeholder and multi-disciplinary
dialogue on policies and related issues, and in the context of the
Greek chairmanship of the Human Security Network,

IOM and the Government of Greece are organizing a
conference  in Geneva next week to address the human security
impact of climate change on vulnerable groups.

Second, Mr. President, research is another urgent priority.

To advance this debate among researchers, the United Nations
University's Institute for Environment and Human Security
(UNU-EHS), IOM and the Munich Re Insurance Company are organizing
an expert group discussion among multi-disciplinary researchers
"Towards a Global agenda for research on migration and the
environment" to define the research agenda on environmental
migration.  The experts aim at three primary goals, namely (i)
assess the existing knowledge base on environmental migration ,
(ii) promote a new agenda of policy-oriented research on migration
and the environment, and (iii) identify key questions, research
themes and innovative research methods needed for more accurate
data collection and cross-cutting approaches to migration and the
environment.

Recognizing that policy, research and operational activities are
to be consistent in order to ensure the needed coherence at all
levels, IOM alongside humanitarian partners from the UN system and
the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) are addressing the
operational aspects of supporting environmentally displaced.

As the Secretary-General stated in his opening remarks to the
September event: "we know enough to act, if we do not act now the
impact of climate change will be devastating and we have affordable
measures and technologies to begin addressing the problem
[…]. What we don't have is time" – because as we speak
– environmentally-induced migration, due to both climate
processes and climate events, is already uprooting communities and
transforming cultures at an alarming rate.

I thank you, Mr. President.