Environmental migration, climate change and the post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

There has always been a fundamental interdependency between migration and the environment, but the reality of climate change adds new complexity to this nexus - while making the need to address it all the more urgent within the framework of Africa/EU relations. The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)[1] shows how serious the need for action is. Sea levels are rising; storms and droughts are becoming more frequent. Arctic ice and glaciers are melting. The world faces a loss of biodiversity. With changing rainfall patterns, water, already a scarce resource in many African states will become even scarcer. Extreme weather events like droughts, storms, and heavy rainfall will increase[2]. Many African states, who are contributing least to climate change, are affected the most with the effects of environmental migration as a direct cause of climate change.

Environmental factors have long had an impact on global migration flows, as people have historically left places with harsh or deteriorating conditions, however, the scale of such flows, both internally between African states and cross-continent into the EU, is expected to rise as a result of accelerated climate change[4]. At the same time environmental migration also serves as an adaptation strategy for those who are affected by the impacts of climate change. Yet mobility often remains a luxury, unavailable for those who cannot afford to migrate. Hence the most vulnerable in African states are the ones often stuck in rural places heavily impacted by climate change, unable to seek protection and to start a new life elsewhere.

Even though a majority of environmental migrants are expected to end up in urban areas and bigger cities within African states, migration caused by environmental change will both directly and indirectly impact Africa/EU security and development relations[5]. Hence the EU should strive to enhance policy coherence by building more synergies between migration and climate change policies for adaptation planning and funding to recognise the role of migration in building the capacity to cope with climate change. It should thus be a major task of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to integrate consistent policies on migration. The SDGs are scheduled to be agreed in September 2015, a few months ahead of the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP21) in Paris, France. It is of great importance that linkages between the SDGs and European governments’ official climate change commitments result in mutually beneficial outcomes for both negotiations to secure an inclusive global deal on climate change[7].

Environmental migration is a transnational issue that requires structured dialogue with African states at EU level. The EU has already taken several important steps by spending millions of euros on food security, climate change adaptation programmes, and humanitarian crises[8]. Despite this, there are still major gaps in the EU development policy, for example in the protection system for people displaced by sudden as well as slow onset disasters. Rethinking that mainstreaming climate change adaptation in EU policies is one of the main pillars of EU adaptation policy action since 2009, and continues to be a priority within the EU Adaptation Strategy there are good conditions for this step. The EU has all the potential to be a global leader in international climate diplomacy and, in close partnership with the African Union, advocate for a robust global emissions regime in Paris in 2015.

In order for the EU to meet its policy coherence for development obligation[9] and to enhance its leading role in bringing environmental concerns to the forefront of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy, the EU needs to further shoulder the responsibility it shares with other polluting states to slash emissions considerably and to support environmental migrants by increasing its investment in African developing countries through the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The GCF is currently the main vehicle for the developed countries’ promise of $100 billion annually from 2020 in climate finance[11]. Conditions are in place since the nexus between migration and development is one of the four priority areas of the Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (GAMM)[12], which provides the overarching framework for the EU external migration policy but more is still needed in order for the EU/Africa dialogue to result in concrete action and accurate budget allocation in this matter, not least for a better coordination between Member States in the EU[13].

• The EU Commission and member states should live up to their commitments regarding policy coherence for development in the field of climate change and migration by promoting structured policy dialogue also on working level on nexus sustainable development – migration; 
• EU should secure an inclusive global deal on climate change investment through the SDGs by including migration governance as 1 stand-alone goal within SDGs;
• EU and member states’ development cooperation with African countries should strengthen effective adaption strategies by supporting a more flexible framework for human mobility as adaptive response to environmental change;
• African and European governments should put the necessary effort into ensuring investment in the Green Climate Fund in order to specifically financially support African developing countries in their efforts;
• A revised Partnership should provide a mechanism for civil society that allows access to information and provides space for an effective monitoring;
• Development planning carried out by local authorities’ warrants greater attention in discussions on environmental migration and development.