The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) today signed an agreement aimed at increasing economic and climate resilience in communities of origin, transit, and destination while supporting safe, humane, and regular migration.
According to the World Migration Report (WMR 2020), out of a global population of 7.7 billion people in 2019, 272 million were international migrants, exceeding certain forecasts for 2050.
The five-year partnership will focus on labor mobility and migrant integration, displacement, humanitarian assistance, and emergency response, climate change and its impact on migration, migration health, including the COVID-19 response, developmental and peace nexus, technology, data, and innovation, and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“IOM has called for a stronger focus on human mobility inclusion in climate policies,” said IOM Director General António Vitorino. “The partnership signed today with EIB is a strategic step towards acknowledging the connections between climate change, the pandemic recovery and the SDGs, and reinforcing efforts to ensure the implementation of the Global Compact on Migration.”
EIB Vice-President Ricardo Mourinho Félix said the effects of climate change are hitting disproportionately the poorest and most vulnerable regions, communities and individuals. “People are being displaced because they lack access to drinking water and food or simply because their places are not liveable anymore. Climate adaptation will play a key role in building a more resilient society leaving no one behind. EIB is very pleased to join forces with IOM today and contribute together to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”
Human migration has increased in recent decades as a result of climate change and environmental deterioration. Disasters will cause about 31 million new displacements in 2020, with 98 percent of them being weather-related. Climate change could cause more than 216 million people to migrate within their own nations by 2050, according to the World Bank, primarily in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, if substantial climate and development action is not taken.
