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Concept Note
PACIFIC REGIONAL CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS WORKSHOP Impacts of Climate Change and Disasters on Human Mobility in the Pacific:
Challenges and Opportunities
Novotel Suva, Lami Bay, Fiji 18‐20 August 2014
I. Introduction
The Pacific region is prone to a wide range of natural hazards, including severe storm surges, cyclones, flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. Increasingly the effects of climate change are being felt across the Pacific region, adversely affecting many people’s daily routines, livelihoods and lifestyles. Some communities face a particularly acute situation, as climate change threatens their very existence. Coastal inundation and erosion, increased salinization, and flooding caused by more intense storms already temporarily displace people and contribute to making a number of community locations unfit for continued habitation. For example, between 2008 and 2012 an estimated 56,000 people were displaced each year in the Pacific.
Pacific islanders have repeatedly expressed their strong desire to remain in their homes for as long as possible. However, planned relocation, a climate‐change adaptation of last resort, is now an option being taken up by some affected communities, such in Fiji and the Solomon Islands. Furthermore, while the planned relocation efforts remain within national borders, some states have explored the possibility of moving their citizens abroad, or are undertaking efforts to support the voluntary movement of citizens to seek work abroad and support the adaptation capacity of people who remain behind.
This concept note introduces the Pacific Regional Civil Society Organisations Workshop on the “Impacts of Climate Change and Disasters on Human Mobility in the Pacific: Challenges and Opportunities,” which will take place in Suva, Fiji from 18‐20 August 2014. The meeting will be jointly organized by the Pacific Conference of Churches and the Nansen Initiative, and provides regional civil society organisations (CSOs) in the Pacific an opportunity to: a) raise awareness on the issues of climate change, disasters, and human mobility; b) reflect upon the protection and assistance needs of people moving in the context of climate change and disasters; c) discuss how civil society, government and international actors have undertaken activities to respond to these needs; and d) identify opportunities for future action within the Pacific region and beyond related to climate change, disasters and human mobility. Outcomes from the meeting will contribute to the Pacific Conference of Churches’ ongoing work on climate change related planned relocation, and the Nansen Initiative’s activities in the Pacific region and preparations for its 2015 global inter‐governmental meeting.
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II. Background to the Nansen Initiative and the Pacific Conference of Churches
A. The Nansen Initiative and Outcomes from the Pacific Regional Inter‐Governmental Meeting
The Nansen Initiative is a state‐led, bottom‐up consultative process led by the Governments of Norway and Switzerland intended to build consensus on the development of a protection agenda addressing the needs of people displaced across borders in the context of disasters caused by natural hazards, including those linked to climate change. To feed the Nansen Initiative process with practical experiences, inter‐governmental Regional Consultations and Civil Society Meetings are taking place in the Pacific, Central America, the Horn of Africa, South‐East Asia, and South Asia over the course of 2013 and 2014.
The results of the Nansen Initiative Regional Consultations and Civil Society Meetings will be consolidated and discussed at a global inter‐governmental consultation in 2015. The Nansen Initiative does not seek to develop new legal standards, but rather to discuss and build consensus among states on the potential elements of a protection agenda, which may include standards of treatment. Its outcomes may be taken up at domestic, regional and global levels and lead to new laws, soft law instruments or binding agreements.
In May 2013, the Government of the Cook Islands hosted ten states for the Nansen Initiative Pacific Regional Consultation.1 A significant number of the region’s states have small, low‐lying islands, making them particularly at risk of the effects of climate change, but all of the Pacific Island states are affected by both slow and sudden‐onset natural hazards including cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and drought. The participants emphasized that moving from their homes is a last resort. However, they also acknowledged that migration, relocation and displacement in the context of disasters are already a reality in the Pacific region. Consequently the participants identified the need for multiple measures that will help states plan policy responses for human mobility in the context of disasters and climate change that will protect people’s rights, safeguard cultural identity, and ensure that Pacific peoples can live their lives in safety and dignity.
In particular, participants highlighted the importance of recognizing migration as a form of adaptation to climate change, and likewise recommended incorporating human mobility issues within joint disaster risk management and climate change adaptation policies at the national and regional levels. They also emphasized the importance of ensuring that people can maintain their identity by retaining a connection to their culture and land in the event of planned relocation, recognizing the need to consult both the relocated and receiving community. These and other recommendations took the form of an Outcome Document, which will be presented and discussed with participants during the August 2014 Pacific Regional CSO Workshop.2
1 Participants included representatives from the Governments of Australia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Samoa, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. 2 The Outcome Document as well as the full report from the Pacific Regional Consultation can be found on: www.nanseninitiative.org
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B. Pacific Conference of Churches: Rational for action at the church level
Given the far reaching implications of climate change, building resilience to these impacts needs the ownership and contributions of all stakeholders and communities directly affected, and not.
The Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) is an active Regional Ecumenical Organisation (REO) that represents churches at all levels in the Pacific. Established following an inaugural meeting at Malua Theological Seminary, Samoa in 1961, the PCC has grown from relatively humble beginnings to a network of 28 member churches and 7 national council of churches. Today, the PCC represents the largest geographical region of the World Council of Churches and has a coverage extending from Papua New Guinea in the west to Tahiti in the east and from the Marshall Islands in the north to New Caledonia in the south, and, as such, is the leading community‐focused agency in the region. The organisation has been mandated by its members to research the issue of climate‐change relocation and accompany affected people.
Church has much to offer in planned community relocations. It is ideally positioned to assemble and maintain networks of people, to partner key stakeholders, such as regional governments and other engaged groups, and to consult more widely with technical, economic and scientific expertise; yet the greatest advantage of the Church remains its direct involvement, both spiritually and physically, with its community. In the Pacific no other organisation is as close to the people affected nor as influential and independent in its advocacy role. As such, the Church has a considerable responsibility to ensure the rights and dignity of all those afflicted are protected.
III. Broader Implications of Climate Change, Disasters and Human Mobility
Climate change poses a real risk to Pacific Islanders’ physical security, economic and social interests, as well as the terrestrial and marine eco‐systems upon which they rely. Changes in weather can also negatively impact and undermine cultural and traditional practices and may ultimately disturb affected peoples’ livelihood opportunities and sense of belonging. Yet, to date most islands exposed to these natural hazards lack sufficient levels of security and resilience. Consequently, developing adaptation measures is essential for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of island people and nations.
Climate change is most likely to affect small islands in the following ways: rising temperatures on land and of the ocean, alterations in the ocean’s chemistry, increased frequency of rainfall and droughts, sea‐level rise, salinisation of freshwater resources, and coastal erosion from the increased wave impacts, particularly from tropical cyclones. Sea‐level rise in particular poses significant threats to small island states, particularly those with low‐lying coastal islands like the Republic of Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, which represent three of the five most vulnerable nations on the planet. Globally, a 4 degree Celsius warming of global temperatures could produce a 0.5 to 2.0m sea‐level rise resulting in the potential displacement of 1.2 and 2.2 million people from the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.3
3 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Working Group II Fifth Assessment Report, Chapter 29. Small Islands, 31 March, 2014, ipcc‐wg2.gov/AR5/report/final‐drafts/
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Debates over the need for appropriate mitigation and adaptation measures dwell on obstacles to accessing adequate levels of financing, technology and human resources, and challenges in developing appropriate policy and legislative frameworks for cultural and social measures. Discussions tend to focus on the short‐term climate variability rather than the long‐term needs. Communities themselves often prefer the choice of a hard adaptation measure, for example the choice of a seawall, rather than a soft approach, such as replenishing the coast with native trees.
In this context, human mobility in the Pacific region is expected to significantly increase in the coming decades and beyond. For example, 2009 study attributed migration from rural to central urban islands to “a combination of the adverse impacts of climate change and socioeconomic factors inherent in small island developing states.”4 Such movements contribute stress on urban infrastructure such as the appropriate solid and liquid waste management, transportation, electricity, and distribution of clean water. These developments are likely to be compounded by the Pacific’s anticipated ‘youth bulge’ over the next twenty years, which may lead to an increase in migrants and urbanization in the Pacific.
IV. Objectives and Expected Outcomes
The overall objectives of this Regional CSO Workshop on Climate Change, Disasters and Human Mobility are to raise awareness of the issue of climate change, disasters and human mobility (displacement, migration and planned relocation) among CSOs within the region, introduce the work of the Nansen Initiative and the role churches play in migration accompaniment, and identify opportunities for follow up within the region. More specifically, this Regional CSO Workshop on Climate Change, Disasters and Human Mobility will:
• examine the climate science related to the Pacific region and its potential impact on human mobility;
• highlight the experiences of communities on human mobility and planned relocation in particular;
• consider existing local, national and regional mechanisms to assist affected communities;
• identify and analyse legal, policy and procedural gaps related to human mobility;
• learn about and identify opportunities to support the work of the state‐led Nansen Initiative within the Pacific region, and the Pacific Conference of Churches’ work on climate change related planned relocation.
This workshop will allow participants to fully understand the contemporary issue of displacement, migration and planned relocation within the context of disasters and climate change, and discuss its implications on their work within the region. External public and private sector representatives will also contribute their perspectives on the current situation and assist participants in their discussions.
The meeting is jointly organized by the Pacific Conference of Churches and the Nansen Initiative Secretariat in Geneva, and is made possible by generous funding from the Federal Republic of Germany.
4 Locke, Justin T, “Climate change‐induced migration in the Pacific Region: sudden crisis and long‐term developments.” The Geographic Journal, vol. 175, No. 3, September 2009, p. 171.
The meeting’s outcomes will be compiled in a report that will provide an overview of the discussions during the workshop. It will include a set of messages for the Nansen Initiative as it continues its work at the regional and global level to build consensus on a protection agenda for people displaced across international borders in the context of disasters including the effects of climate change. Outcomes will also contribute to the Pacific Conference of Churches’ ongoing work on climate change related planned relocation.
Annotated Agenda
Day 1 Monday 18 August, 2014 Sessions Time Theme Speaker
Session 01
0900‐0930am ‐ Opening address and prayer
‐ Key note address
Rev. Francois Pihaatae Dr. Mahendra Kumar
General Secretary of Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) Director, Climate Change Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
0930‐1000am ‐ Introduction to the workshop
‐ Introduction to the Nansen Initiative
‐ ICEBREAKER, an introduction of everyone and exercise to find out what the participants might expect.
Peter Emberson Hannah Entwisle Chapuisat Ewan Cameron Ewan Cameron
Pacific Conference of Churches Nansen Initiative/SPREP
1000‐1045am ‐ Climate Change (CC) 101 – current, projected, and predicted effects faced by the Pacific.
‐ Likely implications of CC impacts on communities, related to migration.
Prof. Elisabeth Holland Prof. Richard Bedford
Director of PACE‐SD, USP National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis, The University of Waikato, New Zealand
1045‐1115am Morning Tea
Session 02
1115‐1200pm ‐ Roles of the Churches –Accompaniment & Advocacy
Peter Emberson Pacific Conference of Churches
1200‐1245pm Relocation Approaches and Case Studies‐ No.1. Experiences in Vanua Levu –
Roko, Cakadrova Province Sara Bulutani Mataitawakilai
Roko Tui Cakaudrove, Cakaudrove Provincial Council Office, Vanua Levu.
1245‐0200pm Lunch
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Session 03
0200‐0245pm Relocation Approaches and Case Studies continued‐ No.2. Community Survey Marilyn Korovusere Principal Officer,
Ministry of iTaukei Affairs
0245‐0345pm ‐ No.3. Carteret Islands, PNG Dr. Julia Edwards
Pacific Conference of Churches
0345‐0400pm Afternoon Tea
Individual Reflection
0400‐0430pm ‐ Individuals take time to fill out questionnaire
Facilitator PCC/NI
Day 2 Tuesday 19 August, 2014 Sessions Time Theme Speaker
Session 04
0900‐0930am ‐ Presentation of findings from individual questionnaire
Facilitator PCC/NI
0930‐0945am 0945‐1045am
Introduction to World Humanitarian Day United Nations Panel Discussion ‐ The Humanitarian Summit and the
work of UNOCHA
‐ Pacific Climate Change & Migration
‐ Climate change/disasters and gender issues
Rashmi Rita Rashmi Rita Sophia Kegan and Jillian Campbell Cecilia Aipira
InformationManagement Officer, UNOCHA, Pacific UNILO & UNESCAP UNWomen
1045‐1115am Morning Tea
Session 05
1115‐1245pm
National Case Studies‐ Fiji: National Planned Relocation
Guidelines ‐ ‐ Solomon Islands: Pacific Land Laws,
Displacement and Planned Relocation
Manasa Katonivualiku Prof. Richard Bedford
Climate Change Officer, MFAIC, Fiji. National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis, The University of Waikato, New Zealand
1245‐0200pm Lunch
Session 06
0200‐0230pm Suva Market Place IThis session allows participants 2 minutes each to summarise what they and their organisation do for work.
Facilitator PCC/NI
0230‐0300pm ‐ Introduction of Conclusions from the Nansen Initiative Pacific Regional Consultation
Hannah Entwisle Chapuisat Ewan Cameron
Nansen Initiative
0300‐0315pm Afternoon Tea
Group Work
0315‐0430pm ‐ Participant, divided into groups to reflect upon the findings of the Pacific Outcome Document: What
Facilitator PCC/NI
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would they add? Disagree with? General discussion.
Day 3 Wednesday 20 August, 2014 Sessions Time Theme Speaker
Session 07
0900‐0930am ‐ Reflection activity: Group work to develop image that reflects climate change, disasters and human mobility in the Pacific. Presentation back to plenary.
Facilitator PCC/NI
0930‐1000am ‐ What are the implications of human rights, related to displacement and migration
Neomai Maravuakula SPC, Trainer, Regional Rights Resource Team
1000‐1045am Nansen Session: Presentation of the Nansen Initiative’s ongoing work in the Pacific following the Regional Consultation, and discussion on opportunities for follow‐up by civil society.
Ewan Cameron Hannah Entwisle Chapuisat
1045‐1115am Morning Tea
Session 08
1115‐1245pm
Suva Market Place IIThis session asks the participants to present their responses to: “How can migration and displacement relate to my work?” followed by open discussions.
Facilitator PCC/NI
1245‐0200pm Lunch
Session 09 0200‐0300pm World Café – The Way Forward
In groups, participants have 10 minutes at each of 3 ‘stations’ to discuss and record their responses to questions posed on the Way Forward.
Facilitator
Wrap up and Farewells
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