by Komoneed | Oct 25, 2023
Are Cities Ready for Growing Climate-related Migration?
jschoshinski
Wed, 10/18/2023 – 20:19
The world is witnessing the highest levels of migration on record, and climate change will increasingly drive this trend. Climate-related disasters such as storms and floods, as well as longer-term stresses like rising temperatures and drought, can damage livelihoods and critical infrastructure and push people to seek better locations to live.
Research shows that most climate-related migrants stay within national borders, with about 70% of these migrants settling in cities. Urban areas are attractive to migrants due to perceived diverse income opportunities and better access to services like education and healthcare. This includes both megacities and small to medium-sized cities.
Estimates indicate that by 2050 over 216 million people could move within their countries for climate-related reasons. Sub-Saharan Africa alone could see as many as 86 million internal climate migrants.
Outcomes for Migrants and Cities can be Positive or Negative
For municipal leaders and communities in USAID partner countries, this trend presents both challenges and opportunities. A lack of preparation for the growth in migration to increasingly crowded cities will worsen existing social, economic, and environmental stresses. Experience suggests, however, that if planned for and managed well, there are benefits for migrants and receiving communities. Migrants can have opportunities for increased income and skills and find greater access to services – but these benefits are not granted to all urban residents equally or automatically. Cities that proactively provide services and economic opportunities to migrants, as well as existing receiving communities, can grow their economic base and improve development outcomes beyond migrant populations.
Read the new paper: Climate-Related Migration: Challenges and Opportunities in Urban Destinations
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Improved water supply supported by USAID in an urban settlement of the Philippines.
Credit: USAID
USAID’s Migration as a Climate Adaptation Strategy paper makes the case that proactive migration in response to climate impacts is considered adaptation when it provides positive outcomes and improves migrants’ resilience. As climate impacts evolve, migration may be a critical form of adaptation.
Opportunities for Supporting Climate Migrants in Urban Destinations
To achieve positive outcomes and avoid negative ones from increasing climate-related migration, it is crucial for institutions, policies, and programs in receiving urban areas to effectively support migrants and communities and leverage the benefits of mobility. Research identifies the following key strategies to manage climate-related migration, which are reflective of broader best practices for urban resilience:
Accommodating population growth with resilient urban planning based on best available data. Given scarce resources, municipal governments need accurate and inclusive data for planning that reflects the needs of the most vulnerable, including urban migrants and those living in informal settlements.
Ensuring that those who move into cities are welcomed and included through social integration and inclusion. Stakeholders can assist receiving communities in integrating migrants into the social fabric of the city.
Ensuring that newcomers have equitable access to urban services. Support can be provided to stakeholders to establish holistic and easily accessible service points in receiving communities. These should be migrant-inclusive, offer relevant information on basic services in a gender- and disability-responsive manner, and facilitate safe and effective access.
Provide support to secondary cities to attract and absorb climate-related migrants through climate adaptation, economic inclusion, and financial opportunity. Supporting formalization of the informal economy through economic inclusion enables more people to access finance, link to value chains, and access government relief measures in times of crisis.
Given the multi-faceted impacts of climate-related migration, a systems approach is needed that both responds to the needs of migrants and also strengthens the provision of goods and services for receiving cities. Responding to this challenge requires inclusive and equitable solutions that account for future growth through flexibility and adaptability.
About the Report
The Climate-related Migration: Challenges and Opportunities in Urban Destinations white paper provides analysis and evidence of climate-related migration in developing countries, with a focus on urban destinations and support for migrants and receiving communities through policy and programming. It complements and supports related USAID and U.S. Government policies, strategies, and analyses, including the:
USAID Climate Strategy 2022-2030
White House Report on the Impact of Climate Change on Migration
USAID Migration as a Climate Adaptation Strategy report
USAID People on the Move report
President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE)
Please send questions or requests to: Monica Bansal, Green Cities Division Lead, at: mbansal@usaid.gov
This blog was originally published by Urbanlinks.
Teaser Text
The world is witnessing the highest levels of migration on record, and climate change will increasingly drive this trend. Estimates indicate that by 2050 over 216 million people could move within their countries for climate-related reasons.
Publish Date
Thu, 10/19/2023 – 12:00
Author(s)
Urbanlinks
Hero Image
Lagos-Nigeria-Getty-Images via Canva.png
Blog Type
Blog Post
Strategic Objective
Adaptation
Region
Global
Topic
Humanitarian Assistance
Migration
Resilience
Urban
Climate/Environmental Justice
Disaster Risk Management
Infrastructure
Sectors
Adaptation
Infrastructure
Urban
by Komoneed | Oct 16, 2023
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by Komoneed | Oct 16, 2023
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by Komoneed | Oct 16, 2023
Leveraging Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Campaigns for Climate Action
jschoshinski
Tue, 10/10/2023 – 17:23
Addressing the impacts of climate change is as much of a local issue as it is a global issue. Individual behaviors play a vital role in shifting the mindset of the general population towards adopting behaviors that can sustainably and indefinitely limit global warming. Implementing social and behavior change communication (SBCC) campaigns can change behaviors, perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs on a range of issues like environmentally friendly practices, clean energy development, and investing in natural resources. It is a tool that can help advance and sustain climate adaptation and mitigation efforts.
During the “Communicating Urgency: Social and Behavior Change in the Era of Climate Change” webinar (full video), hosted by Springboard in September, I spoke about RTI’s efforts supporting USAID-funded SBCC campaigns aimed at influencing public perceptions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and protect wildlife. RTI successfully implemented two social and behavioral change communication approaches in Guatemala and Southeast Asia that demonstrated how targeted communication campaigns can influence decision makers and direct a specific audience to shift behaviors that negatively impact conservation efforts.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Guatemala
The USAID-funded Low Emission Development (LEDS) project worked with the Government of Guatemala to create the country’s first low emission development strategy. Since its launch in 2019, this strategy has been one of the cornerstones of Guatemala’s climate mitigation planning, helping to bridge long-term climate goals with economic growth objectives.
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Various examples of Guatemala’s low emission development strategy report
Credit: RTI International
LEDS launched an SBCC campaign to highlight the benefits of low emissions at events like trade fairs, government events, and on the radio. It engaged with local stakeholders to understand their perspectives on climate change and to create messages that would resonate with them. The goal was to influence public perception across the general population to support low emission policies, decrease Guatemala’s carbon footprint, and to support counterparts in government, private business, and civil society to strengthen the effectiveness of their own climate-related communications and social engagement strategies.
Guatemalan SBCC campaign results
As a result, LEDS worked with eight government ministries and over 25 businesses to generate evidence and communicate the benefits of climate change mitigation and low emission development, working across economic sectors such as agriculture, energy, transportation, forest management, and industry. Over 250 participants attended the public launch of the National Low Emission Development Strategy, which was recently used to updated Guatemala’s Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement. Read more about the LEDS project and lessons from engaging the private sector in climate change planning.
Using SBCC campaigns to protect wildlife in Thailand
The connection between wildlife and climate change is not always apparent, but wildlife trafficking and the illegal trade of natural resources can undermine climate change adaptation efforts and cost countries millions, in addition to threatening national security and an economy’s stability and growth.
Many communities, particularly those that are marginalized, rely on the biodiversity of the ecosystems in which they live to increase their resilience to weather conditions such as severe drought or flooding. Nature-based solutions or landscape-based approaches to combat climate change increase biodiversity, promote sustainable land-use, protect animal populations, and support climate mitigation efforts.
To address these adverse effects, the USAID Wildlife Asia project, led by RTI, worked to reduce illegal trafficking of elephant ivory, rhino horn, tiger, and pangolin products in Southeast Asia. The project drew on the success that SBCC has had in the health sector and, for the first time, used social and behavior change communication for the purposes of biodiversity conservation. Through formative research, the project used a socio-ecological model, developed by the USAID Communication for Change project, and adapted to demand reduction to identify target audiences interested in or seeking out illegal animal parts and products to reduce consumer demand for these illegal products across China, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Decreasing the appeal of ivory
For example, in Thailand, the project used creative messaging to target current or potential consumers of ivory products through the Beautiful Without Ivory campaign. The campaign used fashion influencers and targeted ads to decrease the perceived beauty of ivory, which is one of the main reasons ivory is popular among Thais, especially urban, well-educated women over 20 years old.
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Beautiful Without Ivory Campaign messages. Credit: USAID Wildlife Asia
The campaign, which started in late 2019, ran three rounds of campaign ad placements in fashion magazines, social media, and billboards in malls and metro stations. The total estimated views of the campaigns were more than 20 million people. As a result, a survey showed that those who agreed with “Ivory helps make one feel beautiful” reduced from 67 percent in 2018 to 48 percent in 2020. When it came to changing behaviors, respondents who stated that they would buy ivory products in the future decreased from 79 percent in 2018 to 37 percent in 2020. The campaign received high saturation levels as well, with over one-third of survey respondents seeing campaign ads three or more times.
Ads target potential buyers of illegal animal products
The USAID Wildlife Asia project also ran a digital deterrence campaign in Thailand that used digital marketing to target people specifically searching for illegal animal parts and products online. Ads, like the ones below, appeared when sensitive keywords were used. The ads shared messages informing the interested buyer of the legal repercussions of purchasing these items. The ads were served to 560,670 searches and resulted in 17,410 clicks to the landing page. On social media, the ads were viewed over 8 million times.
Don’t buy bad luck
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