Objective 7: Address and reduce vulnerabilities in migration

The President of the UNGA hosted a Breakfast Summit on Addressing Existential Threats of Sea-level Rise in September 2023, which was attended by eight Heads of State and Government and 14 ministers, as well as chiefs of UN entities. The Summit resulted in the launch of the Coalition for Addressing Sea-level Rise and its Existential Threat (C-SET), co-chaired by Germany and Tuvalu and led by a Group of Champions, namely Antigua and Barbuda; Costa Rica; Denmark; Morocco; New Zealand; Bangladesh; the Republic of Korea; Malta; Palau; and Romania. 

The Greater Caribbean Climate Mobility Initiative (GCCMI) was officially launched in September 2022 to set out a common agenda, informed by robust evidence, for addressing climate mobility across the Greater Caribbean region. 

The Africa Climate Mobility Initiative is a people-centred and evidence-based Initiative, aiming to generate political momentum around a common policy agenda and to mobilise resources for the implementation of comprehensive and locally anchored solutions to address climate mobility.

The Africa Climate Mobility Initiative’s cornerstones are knowledge-building, connecting and empowering change agents and accelerating policy and project implementation underpinned by strategic partnerships.

As the climate crisis deepens, low-lying countries are witnessing significant amounts of their territory being rendered uninhabitable, with some facing the prospect of complete inundation from rising sea level. For many Small Island Developing States, this represents a catastrophic threat to their political, social, economic and cultural fabric and the Pacific Atoll countries are at the frontline of this global climate emergency.

The Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, also known as Escazú Agreement, was adopted on March 4, 2018 in Escazú, Costa Rica. This treaty strengthens the link between human rights and environmental defense by posing obligations on the States parties, regarding the protection of environmental human rights defenders. Thus, the Escazú Agreement promotes a four-pillar model of environmental democracy.

On January 9, 2023, Chile and Colombia signed a joint advisory opinion request to be presented before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), aiming to clarify the scope of the state obligations for responding to the climate emergency under the frame of international human rights law. The request acknowledged the human rights effects of the climate emergency, especially highlighting the vulnerability of communities and ecosystems in Latin America. In this line, Colombia and Chile emphasized the need for regional standards to accelerate action to confront climate change. 

The Groundswell Report is a comprehensive study conducted by the Climate Change Group of the World Bank. The first part of this report was published in 2018, and the second part, titled 'Groundswell: Acting on Internal Climate Migration', was unveiled in September 2021. The report's findings indicate that if immediate and effective climate and development action plans aren't put into place, it's estimated that over 216 million individuals across six global regions may have to migrate within their own countries by the year 2050.

The Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees (GCF) responds to the unmet needs of cities as they support migrants, refugees, and internally displaced people in the face of pressing challenges, from global pandemics to the climate crisis. By directly funding cities to implement inclusive programs of their own design, the GCF:

The Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund (ARTF) is a multi-donor trust fund that coordinates international aid to improve the lives of Afghans. It’s administered by the World Bank and currently supported by 32 donor partners.

Established in 2002, the ARTF was the largest source of on-budget financing for Afghanistan's development until the political event in Afghanistan in August 2021. Until then, it funded Afghanistan’s national priority projects, including in health, education, agriculture, rural development, infrastructure, and public financial management.

The Development Response to Displacement Impact Project (DRDIP) is a World Bank funded project through Investment Project Financing-IDA Loan to the Government of Uganda of about 50 Million dollars and is implemented by the office of the Prime Minister. 

The Project provides development and direct income support to vulnerable nationals and refugees within refugee hosting districts in Uganda and aims to improve access to basic social services, expand economic opportunities and enhance environmental management in refugee hosting districts.