Building Capacities of G.O.B. to Address Migration & Climate Change Challenges
A three-day workshop on the migration environment and climate change concluded today in Belmopan. The objective of the NEXUS project is to improve the management of internal migration caused by climate change. Through partnership with the International Organization for Migration, the Government of Belize is enhancing its capacities, evidence, and policy planning. So what does this all mean for Belize? News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
One of the extremes of climate change is the impact it has on coastal communities. With rising sea levels, lands and beach building materials are washing away; threatening livelihoods and cultures, and forcing families to relocate. The latter is the long-term effect on countries like Belize, so there must be some level of planning or preparation for this eventuality.
Colin Mattis
Colin Mattis, Deputy Chief Climate Change Officer, N.C.C.O.
“Planned relocation helps us to know that surveys and assessments need to be done to determine areas that are vulnerable, to determine people that are vulnerable and people that may have to move from one place to the next so that when they move, we can have houses for them, we can have health services for them, educational services for them; we can put things in place so that they can continue their livelihoods.”
Low-lying areas are also vulnerable communities to disasters and climate change, and as a country; planned relocation guidelines for climate induced relocation are a must. For the past three days, representatives from various government ministries have been meeting in Belmopan to build their capacities to address the challenges associated with migration and climate change. The aim is to identify when relocation is the best option and what needs to be in place for this to happen without burden on G.O.B. or the affected persons.
Pablo Escribano
Pablo Escribano, Migration & Climate Change Regional Specialist, I.O.M.
“There’s multiple challenges in terms of planned relocation. One is the data and the information that we need – what are the hazards, where are they going to strike. And the other one is how does the community feel – do they want to move, don’t they want to move, where do they want to move and also how will their livelihoods be rebuilt? Are they gonna have access to the same livelihoods? Is their living standard going to increase or decrease? So these are some of the considerations. Then there are obviously issues of resources and issues of policies that play into question in this.”
Colin Mattis
“The project helped to identify communities that are vulnerable to issues of climate change and the impacts of hazards. The project helped to develop a document on planned relocation; those are guidelines which tell us what should be done before moving persons from one location to the next, during and after.”
The workshop will allow for these government ministries to align their programs to adapt to the challenges of climate change on a long-term basis. But the reality is that relocating an entire community or families during hazards such as floods, erosion due to climate change is an expensive venture for the government to take on through the National Emergency Management Organization (N.E.M.O.).
Pablo Escribano
“Having a plan can help with that because it can help in how we can get money from international cooperation for green climate funding and also the roles that the different ministries will play in this. So many not everything has to come from the same source. Maybe different entities can play a part, maybe there is technical expertise that we can bring to also reduce the cost, so all of this can be cost-saving measures for the future.”
Colin Mattis
“Let’s say there is the Green Climate Fund. If you can develop a proposal and get a ten-million-dollar project to address these issues that goes a far way. There is the adaptation fund, there is the global environment facility and so the funds are out there, but building our capacity and going out to the funds to do what we need to do is something we are working on even at this point. But I want to state also, as part of the discussion that we have been having, there are certain simple things, because we are talking about planned relocation – because people will have to move from place to place, but we need to plan for it. So, one of the things that we can do to help people to move in a sustainable way is to identify land for them. They can clear it, they can put a fence, they can put a structure and that takes time. And so over time, they can build their own capacity to move on their own.”
An integrated and comprehensive action plan to address internal migration was created and submitted to the International Organization for Migration (Belize).
Duane Moody for News Five.
