Harnessing synergies between Climate Change Adaptation and Risk Reduction in Migrant-Inclusive Health System Responses

The impacts of climate change are increasingly apparent across all sectors, where it’s amplifying the frequency and intensity of weather-related hazards undermining the resilience of communities and compromising economic sectors. It has been evident that human health has also been impacted by climate change, while parallelly also influencing migration and displacement. And though climate change and its health impacts have been well- established there is still gap in investigating the nexus between climate change and disaster risk reduction, health and migration/displacement.
The MENA region is exceptionally vulnerable to climate change due to its arid climate, severe water scarcity, population growth, and urbanization. Recent research highlights that the region will experience significant warming by the 2060s, with projected heat-related deaths rising substantially by 2100. Health vulnerabilities among migrants along Mediterranean migration routes are evident, with extreme heat and increased rainfall impacting the spread of vector-borne diseases. Despite this, existing adaptation plans and policies lack consideration for the interconnectedness of climate change, human mobility, and health. Therefore, it is crucial to integrate these aspects, as natural hazards linked to climate change displace people, cause casualties, damage property, and affect health. There is still a pressing need to address these challenges on a city level; as they are at the forefront of any disaster or crisis. To address this multi-sectoral, multi-governance challenges, IOM, WHO, and UNDRR are implementing a joint programme in Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon, funded by Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund. The selected countries are vulnerable to climate change and have distinct human mobility characteristics. Jordan faces severe water scarcity worsened by climate change, including rising temperatures and unpredictable rainfall, coupled by population growth and urbanization, while also hosting refugee and migrant communities. Lebanon, with its high population density along the Mediterranean coast, is highly vulnerable to sea-level rise and is the top refugee hosting country per capita. Iraq ranks fifth in vulnerability to climate change, with rising temperatures and water scarcity already impacting the southern region while having a large number of Internally Displaced Persons as a result of conflict and insecurity and recent droughts. The approach to this programme is to analyze the topics of this nexus on national and subnational level followed by enhancing the resilience on the local level.
This session would provide insights into this nexus, drawing on the initiatives and good practices from the joint programme; and highlight the role of local authorities and the tools available. It will also advocate for integrating health considerations into climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction policies in a migrant inclusive and gender sensitive manner.