[ad_1]
BAMAKO, 12th July, 2024 (WAM) — The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Government of Mali and the Embassy of Belgium in Mali have officially launched a regional initiative to support Mali and five other Sahel countries in developing and implementing data-based migration and climate change policies and programmes.
“In Mali, we plan to take forward-looking actions to strengthen the resilience of displaced people, migrants and communities, and to manage natural resources in an inclusive and sustainable manner,” said Olivier Grosjean, IOM Head of Interim Mission in Mali. “At the regional level, this pilot initiative will help improve the availability of statistics on internal and cross-border displacement, including climate-related migration.”
According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) 2024 Global Internal Displacement Report, 2.3 million people were displaced by climate-related disasters in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2023, accounting for approximately 7% of the total number of internally displaced persons in the region. The pilot programme, with funding of €5 million, will focus on migrants, internally displaced persons, host communities, and agricultural and migratory populations in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Chad.
Patrick De Bock, Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of Belgium in Mali, said: “The Sahel region is characterized by high mobility of people, whether in search of better economic opportunities or for security or environmental reasons. As one of its foreign policy priorities, Belgium adopted in July 2023 a comprehensive strategy for the Sahel region, which highlights combating the root causes of forced migration and protecting migrants and internally displaced persons as key areas of our cooperation.”
The project, implemented by IOM in partnership with governments, aims to support governments in addressing the periodic flooding and severe droughts that have affected mobility, livelihoods and stability in the Sahel region.
“I welcome this move as an appropriate action in line with the recommendations we made during International Migrants Day 2023, which focused on climate change and human mobility,” said Moussa Ag Attahel, Mali’s Minister of the Diaspora and African Integration. “We need to pay special attention to the nexus between migration and climate change, gender and development, and support communities affected by climate change while minimizing the need for further displacement.”
Extreme weather events are forcing more people to migrate. To avoid, minimize and address climate-related displacement and build people’s resilience, it is urgent to implement sustainable climate adaptation, preparedness and specific disaster risk reduction measures. IOM is committed to continuing to serve those who want to stay, those who are on the move and those who decide to migrate due to the impacts of climate change.
[ad_2]
Source link
