On 5 - 7 October 2022, Ethiopia, with Germany as co-host, welcomed delegates from Khartoum Process (KP) and Rabat Process (RP) partner countries and organisations to Addis Ababa for a Thematic Meeting (TM) on Climate Change and Migration: Addressing Impacts & Adaptation Strategies for Human Mobility in the Context of Climate Change. This meeting, addressing climate mobility for the first time in the framework of both dialogues, aimed at establishing an understanding of the nuanced nature of the climate change - human mobility nexus, with a focus on the regions involved; establishing a conceptual framework for mainstreaming climate mobility into migration governance and other connected areas such as urban planning, while sharing experiences on strategies and initiatives at the local, national, and regional levels on human mobility in the context of climate change. Furthermore, the meeting intended to explore the role of migration dialogues such as the Khartoum Process and the Rabat Process in deepening intergovernmental cooperation and facilitating collaborative responses to climate-induced mobility. This should also include identifying areas for further exploration and recommendations for further implementation and cooperation among and within the dialogues.
In their introductory remarks, both the host and co-host country, as well as the Chair of the Process, South Sudan, the European Commission and African Union Commission representatives underlined the need to achieve collective impact by harnessing the potential of mobility in the context of climate crisis and the addressing vulnerabilities of the concerned communities. Furthermore, all speakers confirmed the need to support the collection and sharing of data across institutions and regions, in order to achieve better coordination of policy and programming coherence.
Among others, partners in the Khartoum Process and the Rabat Process agreed that moving forward they should strive to support initiatives that aim to attach greater significance to the topic of climate induced human mobility in international fora, such as within the existing mechanisms of the upcoming UNFCCC negotiations. Khartoum Process and Rabat Process partners were also invited to contribute to the discussions during the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) as part of France’s and Senegal’s chairmanship of the GFMD, also exploring the possibility of joint events, so that the knowledge and expertise shared during this meeting may be amplified at the global level.
