IOM launches Environmental Migration Platform

IOM today launchedthe Environmental Migration Portal: Knowledge Platform on People on the Move in a Changing Climate, the first-ever online global platform solely focusing on the migration-environment nexus.

The Environmental Migration Portal is part of the European Union (EU)-funded and IOM-led project “Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Evidence for Policy (MECLEP)”. The portal seeks to facilitate dialogue and information sharing, a key component of the MECLEP project, in order to promote policy coherence and cooperation nationally and regionally.

Human mobility in relation to climate change and environmental degradation has been gaining increasing prominence in the public and policy debates. But new research, policy developments and information remain scattered.

The Environmental Migration Portal seeks to address this by providing a one-stop service website to promote new research, information exchange and dialogue intended to fill the existing data, research and knowledge gaps on the migration-environment nexus.

The Portal builds on the experience and knowledge provided through the Asia-Pacific Migration and Environment Network (APMEN) (www.apmen.iom.int), a joint IOM, Asian Development Bank initiative launched in September 2012.

Some key highlights of the Environmental Migration Portal include: a searchable research and project database, discussion fora to facilitate online dialogue for policymakers, and a policy brief series which will serve to provide good practices and lessons learned on the impact of migration in adapting to environmental changes. The Portal also features the research outputs of the MECLEP project, as well as IOM’s work on the topic of migration, environment and climate change.

MECLEP is a three-year project implemented from January 2014 to December 2016 in six pilot countries: Dominican Republic, Haiti, Kenya, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea and Viet Nam.

Of the total EUR 2.4 million budget, EUR 1.9 million is funded by the EU. The project is implemented by IOM through a consortium of six research partners.  MECLEP aims to contribute to the global knowledge base on the relationship between migration and environmental change, including climate change.

The Environmental Migration Portal: Knowledge Platform on People on the Move in a Changing Climate can be accessed at the following link: http://environmentalmigration.iom.int