More focus on climate migration stressed

Migration should be one of the main focuses for Bangladesh in the future climate negotiations to address the human displacement consequences due to climate change.
Speakers told the closing session of the two-day workshop on Legal Briefing on UNFCCC Negotiation organised by Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) and Oxfam-Bangladesh at Department of Environment yesterday.
As part of its efforts, Bangladesh raised the issue in the UN special session on climate change last year as well in the UN General Assembly by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Oxfam lawyer Ilona Millar said parties of UNFCCC are reluctant to view migration as a form of adaptation despite the call of affected countries like Bangladesh and the Maldives.
She said under the UNFCCC negotiation process, the chair of the Adhoc-Working Group on Long Term Cooperative Action (AWG- LCA) put forward the migration issue for the next discussion.
“But a lot is yet to be done on this regard particularly broad consensus among the countries to raise all-out voice at global forums, arrangement of necessary workshops and preparation of technical paper,” she said.
According to a World Bank scientific study 1.5-yard rise in sea level would flood 18 percent of Bangladesh, affecting large parts of its population of 162 million.
The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change predicted that global warming could cause Bangladesh's rice and wheat production to fall anywhere from 8 to 32 percent by 2050 given increased warming and water stress.
The term 'environmental refugee' and 'climate refugee' has been around since mid 1980s said Ilona Millar. She added that issues on how to bring the displaced people in the full range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights are yet to be resolved.
Raj Bavishi, an international lawyer, said the existing treaties and institutions should be amended to broaden the definition of the 'refugee' as the existing international refugee law is ineffective to address the issue.
Mandate of the UN agencies like UNCHR, UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and IMO should also be extended to address the migration issue, he said.