Using freshwater unsustainably is a root cause of poverty which can spiral from a local to global issue. Water crises–from too little water in drought, or too much in flood–have played a part in mass displacement of people from Syria, the Sahel, and the Horn of Africa.
Local actors could mitigate this by taking on board how wetlands interact with the other ecosystems. The stability provided by healthy wetlands and the food production they provide is being threatened in other areas facing conflict: Mali’s Inner Niger Delta, Lake Chad, the Sudd, and the Mesopotamian Marshes.
Climate change threatens to make these situations worse. We are bringing these topics together to raise their profile among international agencies. As the mid-year meetings of the UN climate talks, the intersessional UNFCCC Conference known as SB 48, begins in Bonn in early May, we are holding an event for governments, stakeholders, and agencies, to come along and share their knowledge.
Titled Water stress and human mobility: freshwater solutions for resilience and peacebuilding, the event will contribute to and present the work of the Task Force on Displacement created at COP21 to develop recommendations for integrated approaches to avert, minimise and address displacement related to climate change.
Moderator:
Mariam Traore Chazalnoel, International Organisation for Migration
Speakers:
Jane Madgwick, Wetlands International
Isabelle Michal, UN Agency for Refugees, UNHCR
Atle Solberg, Platform on Disaster Displacement
Ingrid Timboe, Alliance for Global Water Adaptation
DG DEVCO (TBC)
Not in Bonn? Follow us live by joining the event here: https://join-emea.broadcast.skype.com/unfccc365.onmicrosoft.com/8cd9fc8d10cf46ec932805be6a2c4966/en-US/
During SB48, we published an article on ECO newsletter on “Healthy wetlands for addressing water stress and human mobility”, that you can download here ECO-article-on-healthy-wetlands.pdf
UNFCCC side event – Water stress and human mobility
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