European Parliament must show greater ambition on climate migration, civil society groups urge
A resolution being drafted by the European Parliament’s Development Committee must raise the bar on EU action to mitigate the impact of climate change on vulnerable populations.
On Friday 2 October, the European Parliament’s Development Committee (DEVE) will be voting on a motion for a resolution on the impact of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries.
Noting that the world is badly off track to reach the agreed climate-related objectives, the draft motion calls on the European Commission to prepare a comprehensive strategy for the EU’s contribution to limiting the impact of global warming. It also recognises that migration is becoming ever more necessary as part of the response and proposes international arrangements for managing climate migration.
Eva Izquierdo, #ClimateOfChange Advocacy Coordinator at the European Environmental Bureau, said:
“We welcome that DEVE has put together a text that reflects the fact that the climate crisis multiplies the threats that push people to migrate. The report urges the EU to do more to become climate neutral as soon as possible, echoing the voices of young people in the streets.
However, the EU must also become a more welcoming destination for migrants and refugees and needs to develop specific protection schemes for climate change-induced migrants.”
In acknowledging the lack of sufficient funding for the most-affected communities in the Global South, especially in adaptation measures, we commend the rapporteur Mónica Silvana González for including recognition that “The EU, its member states and other developed and emerging countries must radically scale up their actions, given that the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that are causing climate change were emitted almost exclusively by them.”
The motion refers to gender inequality when it comes to vulnerability to the effects of climate change and foresees specific funding and measures to reverse it, as well as supporting young people and recognising their valuable contribution in raising global awareness on climate change and the need to empower younger generations.
Raising the bar
These key points are the cornerstones of the EU-funded #ClimateOfChange project, led by WeWorld-GVC with 15 partners across the European Union, including the European Environmental Bureau (EEB). It seeks to engage and mobilise youth around the nexus between climate change and migration. As part of our campaign and advocacy actions, we call on the MEPs on the Development Committee to go one step further and be even more ambitious.
The reduction of emissions demanded by MEPs must be of the magnitude needed to help keep the rise in global temperatures below the critical level of 1.5⁰C. This involves cuts in greenhouse gas emissions of 65% by 2030. In addition, #ClimateOfChange urges MEPs to call for the eradication of poverty and the narrowing of inequalities.
In enunciating the policies and funding needed for this strategy, we propose to include all sectors, and in particular industrial, commercial, agriculture, investments and migration policies. This is because our climate strategy needs to permeate and be transversal in all areas and we need to build a redistributive and regenerative economy.
The #ClimateOfChange consortium is researching this very topic in a research led by Oxfam Deutschland: a human economy that both respects the right of all people to satisfy their basic needs and the boundaries of our planet’s natural systems.
Ecological economics
A final request from #ClimateOfChange is the recognition not only of natural disasters but also the slow-onset effects of climate change as a driver of migration requiring protection and support measures for people who are compelled to move within and between countries.
Margherita Romanelli, #ClimateOfChange Advocacy Coordinator at WeWorld-GVC, said:
Climate Change is mostly the result of an unsustainable production and consumption model of development. As civil society and citizens, we ask the European Union and its member states to act now with courage to lead the transition towards an ecological economy which respects human and environmental rights.
Europe should step up to the challenge and lead the global process towards a new ecological humanism and defeat inequalities.
We call on all the MEPs of the committee to take into consideration the amendments that the #ClimateOfChange Consortium has put forward and vote because we are running out of time and this motion is an important step towards the recognition of the people who suffer the consequences the most, the human face of climate change.
For more information:
Khaled Diab
Acting communications manager