The climate crisis and migration

(Last of two parts)

National and regional policies must include more migration adaptation measures, and resources are needed to address and prevent displacements while increasing people’s resilience, especially in the most vulnerable countries.

Second, it is imperative to ensure that adaptive migration as a solution is safe, informed and desired. For instance, IOM is working closely with the Philippine government and communities on planned relocation and transitional sites in typhoon affected areas. Through the generous support from donors such as USAID, Australia, Japan, Canada, UN Central Emergency Fund and Germany, IOM is providing critical shelter assistance, hygiene and sanitation, camp coordination and camp management, health and COVID prevention and mental health and psychosocial services. While essential, these actions are primarily reactive. Our actions in the field today can and should be a pathway towards managing climate vulnerabilities.  They must be done proactively and strategically in a contextually grounded manner and with strong community engagement.

Finally, we need to harness the power of the estimated 10 million Filipinos living abroad to strengthen climate resilience locally.  The Philippines is a country that has for decades made the most out of migration. Since the 1980s, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been hailed as bagong bayani (modern-day heroes).

In 2019, remittances from OFWs reached a record high of $33.9 billion, equivalent to nearly 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). With one of the largest diasporas in the world, we need to leverage this support and direct these financial contributions to build back better using the lessons learned from past climate emergencies – such as building four-corner roofs over home in typhoon-prone areas to protect these rebuilt communities from future devastation.

As the cost of the climate crisis is reaching irreversible heights, I depart the Philippines reflecting on the devastating impacts of Typhoon Rai and the future of the communities in the Philippines. While the bayanihan spirit gives me hope, we now need bold collective action to build the resilience of communities at risk, to protect the most vulnerable and to ensure that migration remains a choice rather than a necessity.

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Amy E.  Pope is Deputy Director General of the International Organization for Migration.