Climate change is one of the most pressing global challenges, with far-reaching consequences for ecosystems, economies, and societies. It exacerbates the causes of forced displacement, rendering millions of people stateless. In 2022, Africa experienced approximately 16.5 million internal displacements鈥攁 17 percent rise compared to the previous year. Over half of all new reported displacements that year were caused by climate-related disasters, and nearly 60 percent of refugees and internally displaced persons resided in countries highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change (Siegfried, 2023). This trend is mirrored in the West African region, where disaster-related displacements nearly tripled, reaching a record high of 7.4 million for the region (IDMC, 2023).

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that by 2050, about 216 million people could be displaced within their countries due to environmental factors such as rising sea levels, droughts, and extreme weather events. These statistics demonstrate a close link between climate change and human displacement. As climate-related disasters increase, they not only uproot vulnerable populations but also exacerbate existing gender inequalities. The impacts on women, girls, and gender-diverse populations are particularly severe, exposing them to heightened risks of gender-based violence (GBV), limited access to education and healthcare, and economic marginalization.

The intersection of climate change, displacement, and gender is therefore a critical and urgent issue. Addressing climate change with a gender-sensitive approach is essential to ensure that all displaced individuals receive the support they need, and to build a more equitable and resilient future for all.

Despite growing recognition of the interconnectedness of climate change, gender, and forced displacement, policy responses remain fragmented and often fail to address the unique needs of affected populations. This webinar will explore the complex interplay between climate change, gender, and forced displacement, highlighting existing policy gaps and proposing actionable recommendations to mitigate the disproportionate impacts on vulnerable groups. It will also acknowledge the importance of power dynamics in achieving socioeconomic liberation.

The focus of this webinar will be on identifying the unequal power dynamics and socioeconomic challenges faced by climate-induced displaced populations in various countries within the West African region. The goal is to understand how power dynamics influence socioeconomic liberation, amplify the voices of climate-affected populations, and create a platform for stakeholders to explore strategies for addressing these challenges, improving conditions, and empowering displaced individuals.

This event will take place in English and French.

Back Row: A. Girmachew Zewdu (Ethiopia), Desiree Del Rosario (Chair, Dominican Republic), Sheila Martinez (Dominican Republic), Heather Alexander (Canada), Abebaw Minaye (Chair, Ethiopia), Roula El-Rifai (IDRC), T. Alain Ouedraogo (Chair, Burkina Faso), Opportuna Kweka (Chair, Tanzania); Front Row: Ramata Thioune (IDRC), Amal El Ouassif (Chair, Morocco), Caroline Ford (IDRC). Not shown: Paula Banerjee (Chair, Thailand) and James Milner (Canada)

Following their inaugural workshop in Dar es-Salaam in May, five of the IDRC Research Chairs on Forced Displacement (Desiree Del Rosario, Abebaw Minaye, Tiga Alain Ouedraogo, Opportuna Kweka, Amal El Ouassif, and Paula Banerjee) gathered to discuss the crisis of climate displacement from a Global South perspective. The forum was an informal workshop held on the margins of the Global South Summit on Climate Displacement at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Rabat, Morocco from 1-3 November. The debate was urgent and spirit. At stake, the need for new approaches to climate displacement.

The lively debate touched on issues as diverse as framing and terminology to the environmental impact of refugee camps. The result was a list of policy recommendations for governments and the international community, including the pressing need to mainstream climate change and the environment throughout all forced displacement policy, while also mainstreaming forced displacement into every aspect of climate change policy, breaking down the silos that impede holistic solutions.

One theme that emerged from the debate was the need to keep the focus on the inherent dignity of people and the responsibility of governments to be transparent and to protect both their own citizens, but also migrants and displaced persons. The Chairs noted that many best practices can be found not only in the practices of some governments, but in the knowledge and expertise of displaced persons, refugees, indigenous communities, and nomadic pastoralists, who often know best how to balance human activity and conservation. The discussion stressed the need for localized and local responses that are tailored to each community; what works best in a refugee camp in Tanzania might not work in an urban setting in Ethiopia. Finally, Chairs highlighted the specific issue of access to data on climate displacement, and the need to better incorporate climate displacement data into development indices.

Results and recommendations from the Workshop will be presented at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva in December, and the Network will propose a plan of action for climate change conferences, to ensure that displacement remains a major focus of the global climate change agenda.

Climate Call to Action:

Together, we acknowledge the deeply interconnected and interdependent nature of the nexus between climate change and forced displacement.
Building on existing Global South agreements, tools, fora and knowledge; Adopting and endorsing the conclusions of the Global South Summit on Climate Displacement, held by the research chair at Mohammad VI Polytechnic University in Rabat from 1-3 November 2023; Seeking to draw on best practices from the Global South, we urge governments, international organizations and the international community to commit to:

1. Ensure that responses to climate and environmental displacement are localized, situational and country specific;
2. Encourage the comprehensive management of environmental displacement policies including the governance of natural resources, disaster response, migration and forced displacement;
3. Integrate local perspectives (refugees, host communities, migrants, displaced and stateless persons) at every level and stage of national adaptation and mitigation policymaking;
4. Centre decolonial and indigenous knowledge and practices in climate displacement and environmental policy (including natural resource and land use), and place indigenous expertise at the forefront of climate solutions.
5. Integrate considerations of race, gender, and diverse identity intersections with climate change and displacement;
6. Foster a positive narrative around climate displaced persons and host communities;
7. Promote collaboration and mechanisms for partnership among State actors, civil society, private sector and impacted individuals;
8. Capitalize on regional integration mechanisms to encourage regional solutions;
9. Promote South-South platforms on climate displacement at national, regional, and global levels for learning, coordination, and best practices;
10. Ensure that research, data and statistics on the nexus between climate and displacement are publicly available, and incorporate climate change impact analyses in all research and publications.

Research Chairs and colleagues, with IDRC and 杏吧原创 University staff and professors, in Dar es-Salaam

To the casual observer, this gathering of academics may have looked like just another ivory tower workshop, long on talk and short on new ideas. A closer look would reveal something truly unique: a frank debate about forced displacement between experts based in countries like Mexico, Thailand, Lebanon and Burkina Faso. A debate that was taking place in Tanzania, another country with a lot at stake when it comes to displacement. The conversation was held with no filter and absent the heavy hand of donors or northern academics with fixed agendas, from countries where the crisis is always far away, and migration is always something to be 鈥渕anaged.鈥� Here was a genuine attempt to peel back the usual layers of gatekeepers and sub-grantees from the Global North and let experts from Morocco, Ethiopia and Ghana discuss the usefulness of international policy spaces like the Global Refugee Forum to Africa, or how to address the increased securitization of migration in Africa.

If the conversation was frank, getting everyone together wasn鈥檛 always easy. Visa problems are a constant reality for academics from countries in the Global South, even when travelling to other Global South countries. Flights often transit through Europe or the Gulf, adding hugely to the cost and travel time. Finding quality translation in certain languages can be expensive and difficult. The lack of academic journals based in Global South universities can make it hard to find a home for conference proceedings outside of the Global North. These are not simply logistical challenges, they represent facets of our colonized world that, like a vortex, pulls academic conferences, workshops, and publications inevitably towards the Global North. Over the next few years, the Chairs will be embarking on an innovative plan of co-authored and co-designed research projects, alongside a series of webinars, conferences, workshops and events, in multiple languages and across multiple continents. These activities will test the limits of technology in our interconnected world, and highlight the flaws and gaps in the current academic system.

What does the localization of forced migration research really mean? It means letting the real experts speak and actually listening to what they have to say. It means giving money for research without needing to control the outcome. It means being willing to let that research change your mind. It means having a conversation in a language other than English. It means recognizing the vital roles of teambuilding and egalitarian debate, when western academia is modeled on competition and complex social hierarchies about who speaks and who listens. Yet this is not to say that donors and northern academics have no role to play. Quite the contrary. Canada鈥檚 International Development Centre and 杏吧原创 University facilitated the workshop, but we were there to listen and support, not dictate or dominate. The workshop agenda was set by the Research Chairs, the conversation was led by them, and the message, for once, was loud, clear, and unfiltered: Localization doesn鈥檛 just mean having a seat at the table, it means having all the seats.

In Thailand, the second IDRC Research Chair was officially launched on May 9th at the Asian Institute of Technology. The Gender and Development Studies (GDS) program at AIT inaugurated the alongside the appointment of the IDRC Endowed Research Chair Professor on Gender and Forced Displacement. Professor Paula Banerjee, an esteemed scholar in gender, migration, and forced displacement, has been appointed as the Chair and will serve as the director of the center.