By Ayuska Motha, UN Rep (AIWC Cologne)
One of the highlights of the past week was a side event organized by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and co-sponsored by FAWCO called “Climate-induced migration: understanding systemic drivers and symptomatic responses to vulnerabilities”. The panel presented various real world examples from all over the world including Fiji, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nepal. I had already heard about a village in Fiji that had been relocated due to sea level rise, and we were presented with before and after photos of that village. I was shocked to hear that there are another 800 villages in Fiji alone that need to be relocated! And that is just one country on our planet.
Another panelist, Titi Soentoro, discussed among other things, the Giant Sea wall being built off the coast of Jakarta (population over 10 million). Although it is being built to mitigate the effects of sea level rise and subsidence, 60,000 fisherpeople have now lost their fishing areas and thus their livelihoods. She noted that many of those affected lack access to decision-making, access to education, skills, and training to do something other than fishing. She notes that this all needs to be taken into account.
These are just snippets of information that the panelists presented. Following the panel there were many interesting questions and a rich discussion.