COP 28: Dr Mithika Shared Insights on Addressing the Protection Gap and Climate Change-Induced Migration

Climate change impacts have become a cross-sectoral issue and require global efforts to find long-lasting solutions without leaving an actor behind. In a session organized by Germany-based Klima Allíanz and VENRO organizations on the sidelines of COP28, the issue of Climate change was highlighted as the most common cause of mobility in different parts of the world especially in Africa and the Pacific islands.

In this Session on Human Mobility in the Climate Crisis and how German policy can address the protection gap, Dr Mithika Mwenda, the Executive Director of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) explained that addressing the protection gap and the challenges of climate-induced migration requires only global action encompassing legal, policy and humanitarian response.

Dr Mithika said that when disaster strikes, the rights of communities become vulnerable and that most of the time responses come in an imbalanced manner. He urged that the response should consider the protection of the rights and well-being of those affected by the climate crisis.

According to the International Organization for Migration and World Bank “without efficient and sustained climate action, up to 105 million people could become internal migrants by 2023 in Africa alone.” Drawing from this warning, Dr Mithika added that there are international and regional frameworks that are trying to find solutions namely the sustainable development goal, IGAD protocol, the Kampala Declaration on Migration and Climate Change and the Nansen Initiative among others.

Though global action is required, supportive and urgent measures were proposed including cutting emissions by the global North, prioritization of Adaptation investments and operationalization of Loss and damage fund that considers a people-centered approach.

VENRO is the umbrella organization of development and humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Germany founded in 1995 to construct a just globalization, with a special emphasis on eradicating global inequality and poverty. The organization is committed to implementing human rights and conserving natural resources.

Climate Alliance Germany is Germany’s broad civil society alliance for climate justice advocating for ambitious and socially just climate policies at the local, national, European and global level. Our members represent around 25 million people in Germany, making Climate Alliance Germany the largest civil society coalition for the climate in the country.