The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) launched the first edition of their new quarterly newsletter on environmental migration this week. Keen to position themselves at the centre of the international response, the agency announce several new policy and programmatic interventions for 2012. Including a welcome stream of work on adaptation and development planning.
Despite growing recognition that environmental change will increase the need for people to move within and across borders to survive and thrive the international community are reluctant to commit to action. No international institution has an express responsibility to address concerns. But individual governments and agencies are stirring. Each conference, project or bilateral agreement negotiated is already shaping the response space. And on an issue that demands the attention of not just migration but humanitarian, development, human rights, environment and protection expertise we must hope that other agencies and forward looking governments step up.
You can download the first edition here: ICP Environmental Migration Newsletter Spring edition 1 2012 (2)
More information on IOM’s programme of work on envrionmental migration can be found here: http://www.iom.int/envmig
Blog Author: Hannah Smith. All views expressed are the authors own.
