Hosted by Climate Refugees
The World Bank's latest report on internal migration states: "a more complete picture of patterns of mobility must now include those moving due to climate change." The UN Refugee Agency notes "climate change is also driving displacement and increasing the vulnerability of those already forced to flee." At the same time, climate shocks on human mobility need not be inevitable with immediate, coordinated and effective global action. Protecting today's migrants must mean the right to migrate, but also the right to not migrate. For migration should be an option, but not the only option to survive. With the climate talks in Glasgow less than a month away, these leaders weigh in on the protections and policies we need to safeguard the most vulnerable against climate-induced migration and displacement.
Panelists:
US Congressman Joaquin Castro represents the Texas 20th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives. He was elected as representative in 2012. Congressman Castro serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and is Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Development, International Organizations & Global Corporate Social Impact. Full bio in link.
Ambassador Melanne Verveer is the Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security. Ambassador Verveer previously served as the first U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, a position to which she was nominated by President Obama in 2009. She coordinated foreign policy issues and activities relating to the political, economic and social advancement of women, traveling to nearly sixty countries. She worked to ensure that women’s participation and rights are fully integrated into U.S. foreign policy, and she played a leadership role in the Administration’s development of the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. President Obama also appointed her to serve as the U.S. Representative to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Full bio in link.
Professor Saleemul Huq is the Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) and Professor at the Independent University Bangladesh (IUB) as well as Senior Associate of the International Institute on Environment and Development (IIED) in the United Kingdom. In addition he is the Chair of the Expert Advisory Group for the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) and also Senior Adviser on Locally Led Adaptation with Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA) headquartered in the Netherlands.
He is an expert in adaptation to climate change in the most vulnerable developing countries and has been a lead author of the third, fourth and fifth assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and he also advises the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In addition he is affiliated with the UN Food System Summit for 2021 as co-chair of the Action Track 5 on Building Resilience to Vulnerabilities, Shocks & Stress. Full bio in link.
Moderator:
Amali Tower is the Founder & Executive Director of Climate Refugees. Amali has extensive global experience in refugee protection, refugee resettlement and forced migration and displacement contexts, having worked for numerous NGOs, the UN Refugee Agency and the US Refugee Admissions Program. She has conducted country and regional visits, case studies and research in climate-induced displacement contexts, including in urban and camp settings. Her research on climate, conflict and displacement in the Lake Chad Basin in the African Sahel has been selected as evidence of loss and damage to be presented at COP 26 in Glasgow. She is a a member of the World Economic Forum Expert Network in Migration, Human Rights and Humanitarian Response. Full bio in link.