Madam Chair,

Your Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen.

Introduction

It is a distinct honor and privilege to be invited here today, and I wish to thank our esteemed colleague and good friend, Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, for organizing this important event. We are gathered to reflect on and discuss the Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis in Laudato Sii: Care for Our Common Home.  

I would not be so bold as to attempt to do an exegesis of the Encyclical Letter. Archbishop Tomasi has already done this brilliantly.

The environmental challenges raised by the Pope in this Encyclical Letter are, however, of great shared concern for the International Organization for Migration (IOM); the links between migration, environment and climate change are stronger than ever. As Director General of the only migration agency with a global footprint, I personally support and engage in the dialogue on our “common home”.

IOM shares the concerns of the Holy Father on the abuses the Earth is suffering, and supports his appeal for a new dialogue on how we are shaping the future of our planet. The words of Pope Francis help us acknowledge the immensity and urgency of the environmental challenge we face.

IOM is an organization devoted to promoting the well-being of migrants. We, therefore, share with the Vatican an ongoing commitment to further the ideals of peace, social justice and human dignity. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to convey our immense gratitude for the Holy Father’s constant engagement on migration issues. Recently, he reiterated his great concern for migrants during his annual greeting to the Diplomatic Corps in Rome. His Holiness’ words are a welcome source of support and affirmation in our joint efforts to find practical and effective solutions that allow us to safeguard the dignity of all migrants.

I. “A Gathering Storm” – Migration, Environment, and Climate Change

We live in an era of unprecedented human mobility with more than one billion people on the move in our world of seven billion: more people are on the move than at any other time in recorded history. Our world currently faces major refugee and migration movement, and climate change is among the root causes of the record number of persons forced to migrate. 

Climate change endangers livelihoods through its impact on land, desertification, water stress, droughts, and recurrent and intensified natural disasters, including floods. As conveyed by Pope Francis in the Encyclical Letter, climate change represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day. And yet, it took the UNFCCC until 2010 in Cancun to mention population displacement in its final document.

Looking at migration in the context of climate change means giving a human face to the climate change debate. In a world where more people are on the move than ever before, there is an urgent need to include migration and migrants in efforts to develop a sustainable development agenda.

Last year, ‘climate migrants’ and ‘climate migration’ were formally integrated in the agreed text of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris. The inclusion of specific language highlighting the importance of “promoting, protecting and respecting…the rights of migrants in vulnerable climate situations” is a significant breakthrough by those concerned with human mobility in all its forms.

There is much to do, however. Climate change is a global problem with global implications. Climate change will continue to affect anywhere between tens of millions of people by 2050.

Although most of the media’s attention is focused on sudden onset disaster, gradual environmental degradation is expected to cause most of the environmental migration in the long term. IOM believes that now is the time to plan in order to (1) mitigate its possible negative impacts; (2) reduce the need for future disaster response intervention; and (3) maximize the positive potential of migration as an adaptation strategy.

II. The Perfect Storm: Global Migration Trends

Unfortunately, migrants all around the world are not just experiencing literal storms brought about by climate change – but a figurative one that I to call the “perfect storm”.  What do I mean?

A. Unprecedented migration: migration as a “mega-trend”

We are currently living in a period in which migration is not just a defining reality but a “mega trend”. While climate change continues to affect human mobility patterns, there are other migration drivers that also need to be considered when planning for the future. Other drivers of migration include: demography (ageing North); demand for labor (labor-rich South); socio-economic disparity; and distance-shrinking technologies; and the digital revolution.

B. Unprecedented disasters

Second, we are currently witnessing unprecedented, simultaneous, complex and protracted humanitarian disasters – from the western bulge of Africa all the way to the Bay of Bengal and Andaman sea – that force a growing number of people to migrate. The tragedies we are witnessing in different parts of the world are the result of social, economic and demographic inequalities; instability and conflict; weak governments; and failed migration and asylum systems.

C. Unprecedented political malaise

There is also a vacuum of political leadership, lack of political courage, and an erosion of international moral authority on migrant issues, with international humanitarian law being violated by all sides. Public confidence in government’s ability or willingness to manage these migration flows is a further element in this “perfect storm”; and a pervasive “globalization of indifference” as Pope Francis has described it.

This is, by any estimate, a grim and bleak portrait of our world today. But, if we acknowledge current realities and respond by developing the right policies -- policies that address the immediate short-term, medium-term and longer-term – all our countries and people on the move can turn the current situation into a manageable one – one that will benefit us all. We need to get on the "high road" that would help us "weather the storm".

III. Weathering the Storm:  Responding to the Challenge of Migration and Climate Change

How then should we respond to or manage the realities and challenges that are now before us?

As highlighted in His Holiness’ Encyclical Letter, the urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek sustainable and integral development. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all.

Urgent action is needed to address immediate humanitarian needs, save lives and to protect all migrants rights. We urgently need to address the structural causes and underlying drivers of forced migration. We need to re-focus our cooperation with one another, recognizing that our challenges and responsibilities are shared and inter-linked.

IOM has long advocated and actively supported a holistic migration policy approach. Our “thesis” is that migration is:

• Inevitable – owing to demography and other realities;
• Necessary – if skills are to be available, jobs filled, and nations to flourish; and,
• Desirable – if well-managed through sensible, humane and responsible policies.

New migration policies are clearly called for – or what I describe as a “High Road” Scenario. Policies have not kept pace with a mobile, virtual, rapidly changing world. A high road scenario can include many elements, any combination of which will improve our migration policies.  These policies must have three objectives:

1. Respect the human rights of migrants;
2. Address the root causes and drivers of migration;
3. Promotion of safe, orderly mobility.

Our objectives require enhanced action and enhanced cooperation – especially in three areas:

1. Developing evidence and knowledge on cross-border disaster-displacement;
2. Enhancing the use of humanitarian protection measures for cross-border disaster-displaced persons; and
3. Strengthening the management of disaster displacement risk in the country of origin.

A coordinated approach to human mobility is urgently needed in the context of climate change – especially for countries most vulnerable to climate change. This means progressively linking up humanitarian action; human rights protection; migration management; refugee protection; disaster risk reduction; climate change adaptation; and development interventions into one coherent approach.

Conclusion

Migration is as old as humankind.  People will increasingly resort to migration as a coping mechanism to address climate change. Climate change will remain one of the root causes of the record number of persons forced to migrate. We need to add adaptation measures to mitigating measures.

As mentioned in the Holy Father’s Encyclical Letter, a more responsible overall approach is needed to deal with the protection of the environment and the regulation of migration. Keep the focus on the migrants themselves; on their families; on their communities; on understanding the challenges climate migrants face. By harnessing the positive potential of migration as an adaptation strategy to climate change, we can support those who will need – sooner or later – to migrate with dignity.