Papua New Guinea - In the lead up to the climate change negotiations in Paris later this year, IOM, in cooperation with the Office of Climate Change and Development (OCCD) of Papua New Guinea (PNG), will hold a three-day policymaker training workshop on migration, environment and climate change in Port Moresby on 26-28 October.

Twenty participants from various ministries, universities and civil society will gather at this hands-on workshop, which is aimed at building the capacity of experts and practitioners to integrate migration and environment in policy-making, enabling them to propose concrete national policy and programmatic recommendations.

PNG is the largest and most populated country in the Pacific under threat from the impacts of environmental and climatic changes. PNG experiences both slow onset processes such as sea-level rise, and rapid onset events like cyclones, flooding, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis. 

While the country experiences a significant number of displacements triggered by the changing environment and climate, there is no existing policy framework that specifically deals with people displaced for environmental reasons.

Gwen Sissiou, Acting Executive Director of the OCCD said: “The training workshop comes at a timely moment before the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) taking place in December. PNG needs to increase its ability to anticipate and manage the effects of climate change, while integrating the associated migration risks.”

The Paris Agreement is expected to address integration of human mobility and a Climate Change Displacement Facility is on the agenda. The timing is right at the national level as well, where IOM has signed a memorandum of agreement with OCCD that fosters partnership in building resilience through migration as an adaptation strategy.

“In the Pacific, and especially in PNG, we are confronted with the realities of climate change on a daily basis, making adaptation and mitigation activities particularly relevant. As we speak, the country is responding to drought and frost induced by the El Niño event that has affected hundreds of thousands of people. I hope this training will serve as an important stepping stone on the way to an effective national system of disaster and adaptation governance,” said IOM PNG Chief of Mission George Gigauri.  

The initiative is part of IOM’s Migration, Environment and Climate Change (MECLEP) project funded by the European Union, with financial assistance of the IOM Development Fund. PNG is one of six countries where the project is being piloted, together with the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Kenya, Mauritius and Viet Nam.

During the workshop, a Training Manual on Migration, Environment and Climate Change will be tested and validated. The manual is a facilitator’s guide providing a step-by-step roadmap on how to integrate human mobility into environmental policies, climate change and adaptation strategies. This participatory training tool will be available in several languages to respond to global demand and allow IOM to deliver regular workshops at the request of Member States.

For further information on the workshop please contact Wonesai Sithole at IOM PNG, Tel: +675 70316355, Email: wsithole@iom.int. For more information on the MECLEP project, please contact Sieun Lee at IOM HQ, Tel: +41 022 717 9553, Email: silee@iom.int.