Migration for the Good

By Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification

Have the migration debates erupting all over the world all missed a crucial point? Climate change is pulling the rug from under poor rural people's feet; destroying their natural resources and taking away their ability to decide their own fate. Migrant remittances and skills are becoming vital for their survival, but also crucial for global peace and political stability in many countries.

For five decades we have failed to check land degradation. Now, extremist groups and criminal gangs are exploiting the situation. They radicalize youth and children, and enslave women and girls for perverted, political ends. When your farm won't produce, your children have no future. It can lead to radicalization, and everyone suffers.

In many places, land degradation has left much of the land barren. We have reached a fork on the road. The path to a peaceful and secure future is paved with decisive action against losing more productive land. Here, voluntary migrants can be part of the solution. The other path is to maintain the status quo. Climate change will determine the end-game and forced migration, radicalization and violence may become the new 'normal'. The tipping point is close. There is no time to dither.

Read the full article here.