Include human mobility in policies to address disasters: Experts
Natural disasters, including floods
and earthquakes, forced more than
24 million people
globally to leave
their homes in 2016
UNB
Experts have stressed the need for integrating human mobility in national policies on climate change, disaster risk reduction and sustainable development across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, reports UNB.
In 2016, they said, natural disasters, including floods and earthquakes, forced more than 24 million people globally to leave their homes. This level of disaster displacement and environmental migration poses significant regional challenges in the 21st century.
To discuss and address disaster challenges, a two-day regional workshop ended at the ICIMOD headquarters in Kathmandu on Friday, said an ICIMOD press release posted on its website.
The workshop - titled Human Mobility in the Context of Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Hindu Kush Himalaya - brought together more than 30 policymakers and experts from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.
The forum provided a platform for government officials to share their experiences and learn how to address human mobility, including displacement and migration, in national policies.
The experts acknowledged that the adverse impacts of climate change are leading to increased frequency and intensity of disasters, and these impacts expected to be disproportionately forceful in developing countries, especially among the poor and vulnerable populations.
Observing that people will respond to these impacts with a combination of strategies, including mobility, they said human mobility manifests in various forms in communities affected by disasters and environmental change: evacuation, temporary or protracted displacement, migration as adaptation, internal or cross-border movement, planned relocation and other types.
The workshop concluded with recommendations to integrate human mobility provisions in national policies and programmes to implement their respective countries international commitments regarding climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Ministry of Population and Environment (MoPE) of Nepal, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Nepal Institute of Development Studies (NIDS), and the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) jointly hosted the workshop.
