Human Mobility, Disasters and Climate Change in Africa

Across the African continent, the adverse effects of climate change have intensified the frequency and severity of sudden and slow-onset hazards, such as droughts, desertification, water scarcity, rising sea levels, coastal erosion and flooding. Disasters and climate change increasingly interact with other drivers of population movement, resulting in disruptive patterns of human mobility. There are a number of policy approaches to these challenges which aim to avert, minimize and address displacement due to the adverse effects of climate change, and also facilitate safe, orderly and regular migration for the benefit of both migrant communities as well as origin and their host countries. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) and the World Bank (WB) held this side-event on the occasion of the Africa Climate Week 2021 to raise awareness of the links between migration, displacement, disasters, climate change and environmental degradation in Africa.