Question: Looking at this multidimensional question from a global policy perspective, where do you see displacement in the context of disasters and climate change sitting in relation to existing frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement and the Sendai Framework? 

•    The combined effects of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic will reverse decades of hard-won development gains. As the Secretary-General recently noted, in 2021, we need to ‘move from death to health, from disaster to reconstruction, from despair to hope, from business as usual to transformation.’

•    Much more needs to be done as the world’s adapts to increasingly extreme weather due to the climate emergency. As the sobering figures in the 2021 Global Report on Internal Displacement show, disasters triggered more than three-quarters of the new internal displacements worldwide in 2020. Thus, out of the 40.5 million new IDPS, 30.7 million people had to move because of disasters especially storms and floods.

•    The recognition of climate and disaster-induced displacement in international frameworks is evolving. And there is growing acknowledgement that mitigating risks of displacement needs to be factored into frameworks for sustainable development, disaster risk reduction and climate change – but also social protection and human rights protection.

•    The unanimously agreed 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals recognized forcibly displaced people as a vulnerable group in need of particular attention and calls for the “full respect for human rights and the humane treatment.” Importantly, the 2030 Agenda committed us to “leave no one behind.” IDPs, and particularly those in situations of protracted displacement, are very much at risk of being those left furthest behind. The more recent inclusion of a specific SDG indicator on forcibly displaced populations (indicator under target 16.3 concerning the rule of law) is a significant step forwards, improving developmental data on forced displacement, and collective accountability in addressing it. 

•    As for the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction, disaster-related displacement is recognized as both a significant consequence of disaster risk, and should it persist, a serious driver of future risk. The Framework aims to reduce all forms of disaster risk, including the risk of disaster displacement. Achieving progress on the Sendai targets on risk reduction is therefore critical to efforts to prevent, reduce and manage disaster and climate induced displacement, as well as the associated secondary impacts.

•    With respect to the Paris Agreement, COP21 established a Task Force on Displacement to develop recommendations for integrated approaches to avert, minimize and address displacement related to the adverse impacts of climate change. UNDP is part of this Task Force and its main priorities are to increase knowledge and capacity on the nexus between climate change and human mobility, including through the development of training modules and capacity development support. 

•    We agree with the Report that the Global Compact for Migration (or GCM) provides important opportunities, to address climate and disaster-induced displacement. It is promoting safe, orderly and regular migration as well as approaches and mechanisms to address the vulnerabilities of persons affected by climate and disaster risks.  The GCM enhances the coping capacity of these populations including through devising planned relocation opportunities as an adaptation measure. 

•    Across all these frameworks, we can see the increasing integration of displacement and evolution of our collective narrative. Within UNDP, we feel that the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Internal Displacement is represents an important opportunity to further evolve our narrative and approaches on addressing and reducing displacement, in particularly by looking at the importance of complementary developmental solutions to humanitarian approaches, and by making the link to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. We are pleased to see the movement of the panel in this direction, with a specific focus on political will, national-ownership and accountability, protection of rights, elevating prevention, as well as more effective collaboration between humanitarian, development and peace actors.    

•    UNDP is advocating to the panel that its work can offer an important opportunity to “reframe and reset” our understanding of durable solutions as fundamentally a development issue. We are emphasizing a renewed focus on the role of states in being accountable for and to internally displaced populations, and in working with development partners to address the root causes of displacement in their development planning and prioritization. 

•    We in UNDP are supporting our programme countries to better deliver on this in practice. 

•    In Somalia, as one example, the Government’s current National Development Plan 2020-2024, which is aligned to the SDGs, is based on a poverty analysis that shows that IDPs have the highest rates of multi-dimensional poverty in the country. The Plan prioritizes development solutions for displaced communities across most of its pillars, including in the areas of security, justice, employment and service delivery. UNDP’s programmatic support in the country seeks to address the root causes of displacement, including multidimensional factors, such as climate-induced disasters, instability and conflict, through supporting climate-change adaptation, combined with resilience building and community-based disaster risk reduction, investments in local governance, as well as efforts to build peace and reduce violent extremism. 

•    As we are preparing for the COP26 in Glasgow later this year, GRID 2021 also reminds us about the importance of scaling up our collective ambitions, principally to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reach adaptation goals in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement under the UNFCCC. UNDP’s Climate Promise is doing exactly this and is currently supporting 118 countries on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to scale-up their ambitions in implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement. 

Question: Looking at this issue from a global and comparative perspective, what good practices and promising operational approaches have you identified to advance comprehensive approaches?

•    I would like to start by highlighting four key aspects of such comprehensive approaches, and then provide concrete examples of such good practices.  
 
•    First, as a starting point, displacement really must be treated more as a development challenge, not humanitarian, especially where displacement is protracted. Internal displacement often results from failures of development, in development practices that deplete the environment; or in the absence of social protection systems; or in contexts of weak or absent local governance, rule of law and security provision. 

•    Addressing these root causes requires investing in development pathways that are sustainable, green, and equitable; that build inclusive and effective governance capacities; and that are capable of promoting social cohesion and building peace. This means Governments need to take ownership and leadership to ensure displaced populations are well factored into development plans and budgets, and that “whole of government” approaches are applied that involve all levels of Government and across sectoral line ministries.  

•    Second, given how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing vulnerabilities, we need to better understand the multi-dimensionality of risk. And we need to ensure our development investments are more risk-informed, so that Governments and peoples can address the issues with more comprehensive, joined-up and integrated efforts on climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and peacebuilding. 

•    Third, we need a real and meaningful pivot to prevention, and preventing forced displacement from happening in the first place. This means better data and analytics around risks and threats, and being able to translate these into concrete anticipatory and preventive actions. This includes helping countries to design risk-informed development plans and macro-economic policies, as well as national adaptation plans.

•    Fourth, on partnerships. Only by working together across sectoral silos and involving those at risk, can we strengthen global ability to act ahead of climate extremes and disasters. As stated in the Foreword of the Report to which UNDP contributed, addressing internal displacement requires more political will, more strategic financing, and better collaboration between stakeholders. 

•    Let me provide some concrete examples on the ground that are addressing the above four aspects.

•    The Report talks about convergence of both conflict and disaster fueling compounded displacement crisis. The international community is increasingly interested in understanding the impact of climate-related security risks. For instance, UN Security Council resolutions related to UN mission mandates have started to include climate security implications in the Lake Chad Basin, Mali, Somalia, Central Africa and Darfur.

•    An inter-agency initiative among UNDP, the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and UN Environment, called the Climate Security Mechanism, was established in 2018 to strengthen the capacity of the UN to address the interlinkages between climate change, peace and security, and now serves 25 field initiatives.

•    UNDP’s work on climate security focuses on making all conflict prevention and peacebuilding work climate-risk-informed, as well as ensuring that climate mitigation and adaptation work is peace-positive, in ways that go beyond “do no harm.”

•    Let’s take the Sahel as example. UNDP is working on a regional stabilization facility for the Lake Chad Basin and for the Liptako Gourma Authority, to scale up the range of stabilization intervention including security sector support. At the same time, UNDP has a strong climate adaptation portfolio there, and is contributing to avert displacement through investment in community assets and livelihood development. 

•    In Mali, UNDP’s adaptation project benefitted over 200,000 community members by developing local livelihood systems such as agriculture, fisheries and livestock, harnessing partnerships with local authorities and community organizations. In Chad, UNDP’s similar adaptation initiatives worked very closely with Lake Chad Basin Commission which also coordinates the large security initiative in the basin. To Liptako Gourma Authority, a Climate and Security Risk Expert was posted in March 2021, providing support to assess and develop response strategies to climate-related security risks.

•    In Senegal, UNDP is currently designing the adaptation initiative for Green Climate Fund to work with IOM to involve migrants in reforestation activities. Through vertically integrated climate funds (GEF/LDCF, AF, GCF) and bilateral partners, UNDP is accumulating important experience and knowledge in the space of climate displacement and a broader area of climate security.

•    Let’s see another integrated approach in other parts of Africa. In Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, UNDP supports the national and provincial government in identifying resilient solutions for IDPs and their host communities who are affected by a combination of disasters, such as the impact of Cyclone Kenneth, and the on-going insurgency. The interventions are a combination of livelihoods creation and strengthening of governance systems and mechanisms that are key to inspiring people’s confidence in the administration.

•    Let’s turn to another example involving the use of foresight and Artificial Intelligence. We are currently implementing the inception period for a new, four-year human mobility project in Asia-Pacific on anticipatory policy options for Disaster Displacement and a future programmatic offer. The project seeks to strengthen the inclusion and resilience of migrants, displaced people and host communities in informal urban settlements across four dimensions: livelihoods, participatory urban planning and development, social cohesion, and climate change adaptation. 

•    Focusing initially on Metro Manila in the Philippines, Ho Chi Minh City in Viet Nam and Karachi in Pakistan, it follows a three-step methodology, with a strong research, analytics and social media component, informing a series of sub-national consultations that develop and choose, pilot interventions addressing select challenges within the four dimensions mentioned. The analytics component involves efforts to comprehensively map informal urban settlements through an AI-based toolchain applied to high-resolution satellite imagery.

•    To conclude, I would like to reflect on my fourth point on partnerships, combined with political will and financing. I would like to refer to the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP) which was launched at the UN Climate Action Summit in September 2019, bringing together an unprecedented range of stakeholders across the climate, humanitarian, and development communities with the aim of making 1 billion people safer from disasters by 2025.

•    Despite the mounting impacts of climate change, one in three people are still not adequately covered by early warning systems, and early and anticipatory approaches. So REAP set out four ambitious targets around laws, policies, and plans; financing; risk management systems; and public awareness campaigns, to target early action to reach ‘last mile’ communities.

•    At this moment, this initiative does not explicitly address displacement. But there is a space for partners and aligned organizations to drive a systemic shift towards acting earlier to reduce the impacts of disasters, mobilize commitments and inspire action including reducing the drivers of climate and disaster risks which can lead to displacement.

•    The ambitious targets are achievable only through partnership and a shared commitment to joined-up, risk-informed preventive early action.