8/14/2019 Towards a Humanitarian Climate Change Agreement

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As long ago as 1990, the Inter-governmental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC) wrote that the graveste ects of climate change may bethose on human migration; yetstates did not address this in climatechange negotiations and agreements.

While the 1997 Kyoto Protocolcommitments which run until 2012

focus on climate change mitigation,the agreed outcome will also addressthe consequences of climate changethat can no longer be avoided and the need for climate changeadaptation. A sub-group of the Inter-Agency Standing Commi ee taskforce on climate change has focusedon ge ing recognition for migration

and displacement issues, and a dranegotiation text for Copenhagen nowrefers to human mobility.

Both climate change mitigationand adaptation are relevant to theobligation to prevent arbitrarydisplacement from happening in the

rst place. Such prevention e ortshave not always been su cient toavoid disasters and displacementfrom happening, however. Particularprotection challenges that arise withclimate change include relocationof people away from high-riskareas, and the normative protectiongap for the cross-border displacedwho do not qualify as refugees byinternational, regional or national law.

Climate change-related migrationwas highlighted in some statementsduring the UN FrameworkConvention on Climate Change(UNFCCC) conference in Poznan inDecember 2008, most prominently inthe opening statement by the Polish

Minister of the Environment andPresident of the Poznan conference

and in the statementdelivered by theAmbassador ofAlgeria on behalf ofthe Africa Group. Theissue of migrationand displacementlater gured inthe assemblydocument of ideasand proposalswhere Bangladeshreferred to "climaterefugees" and theAlliance of SmallIsland States (AOSIS)

referred to "climate victims". Theparticular challenge of relocationwas also mentioned by Mexicoduring the risk managementworkshop held in Bonn in April.

By May 2009 a dra negotiation texthad been prepared and made public.It is a 200-page document based on

hundreds of submissions. Many textproposals suggested by humanitarianagencies are included and havesupport from both industrialised anddeveloping countries, but the text isstill subject to further negotiation.

The rst dra of the text includedreference to activities related tonational and international migration/planned relocation as adaptationactions. The reference, ensured by aBangladeshi submission, was well-received by many States Parties atthe rst reading in Bonn in June.Humanitarian agencies present, suchas UNHCR, IOM and NRC, andthe Representative to the Secretary-General on the Human Rights

of IDPs welcomed the referenceand o ered some advice on howthe text could be modi ed. At asecond reading of the dra text inBonn, suggested modi cationshad been included, and a revisednegotiation text became available.

In addition to migration- anddisplacement-speci c text, key

language on risk managementand disaster risk reduction is nowprominent, including for the rsttime a reference to emergencyresponse. There is also textsuggesting that priority be givento the needs of the most vulnerablepeople (rather than states).

While these are signi cant steps inthe right direction, it remains to beseen whether and how the agreedoutcome actually incorporatesdisplacement and other humanitarianissues. During the last and crucialmonths of dra ing, as the 200-page dra is whi led down, it will be important to make sure thatthe text we want is retained.

Vikram Kolmannskog (vikram.odedra.kolmannskog@nrc.n o) isLegal Adviser, Climate Change,at the Norwegian RefugeeCouncil (h p://www.nrc.no).

The document of Comments

and Proposed Revisions to theNegotiating Text prepared by theChair of the UNFCCC Ad HocWorking Group on Long-TermCooperative Action is available at h p://www.unhcr.org/4a408cc19.html ; the revised dra negotiationtext, as of July 2009, is availableat h p://unfccc.int/resource/ docs/2009/awglca6/eng/inf01.pdf

In Copenhagen in December 2009 states are expected toarrive at an agreed outcome on climate change action.

Towards a humanitarianclimate change agreementVikram Kolmannskog

I R I N / R i c h a r d L o u

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at Dadaab,Kenya,

November2006.