On 4-5 October 2023, a Flagship Thematic Meeting on “Exploring the Potential of Mobility in the Context of Climate Change” organised by the Khartoum Process will take place in Berlin, Germany, co-chaired by Germany and the African Union Commission. The Khartoum Process is a Dialogue focusing on the migration route between the Horn of Africa and Europe.
Climate change has gradually become a challenge as it engenders massive and unpredictable movements of populations. It is now essential to integrate climate change is our analysis of migration. Already in 2021, the Rabat Process conducted a workshop on climate change in collaboration with the Mixed Migration Centre. Previous Khartoum Process thematic meetings have also focused on addressing the impact of climate change on mobility, data collection, food insecurity, and internally displaced persons.
This time, the Rabat Process partners will be joining their Khartoum Process counterparts in Berlin, and will have the opportunity to share experiences. Morocco, the current Chair of the Rabat Process, will intervene in the opening ceremony of the meeting.
The potential of mobility in the context of climate change
This meeting aims to focus on the opportunities that can stem from the mobility and climate change nexus while paying particular attention to gender aspects. In this regard, partner countries will share learned lessons and best practices from existing policies and actions from the Khartoum and Process regions. Expert presentations, panel discussions and working groups will give participants the opportunity to examine climate-induced mobility from different angles. Topics such as available data, migration partnerships, resilience, security and gender will be addressed. The main objective of this meeting is to bring forward recommendations and formulate concrete action points for partner countries of the Khartoum Process and the Rabat Process in the area of climate-induced migration.
Climate change in the Rabat Process
This meeting is in line with the strategic objectives of both the Khartoum Process and the Rabat Process. In the framework of the latter, it addresses Area 1 of the Cadiz Action Plan 2023-2027 which focuses on “developing a common understanding of the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement in the Rabat Process region”. Within Area 1, this meeting most specifically reflects Action 4 which highlights the need to analyse and address root causes of migration (including building resilience, anticipating and mitigating climate change) and to share best practices in migration data collection and analysis, support the activities of migration research centres, and develop practical recommendations for improving the integration of migration issues into policy-making. It further echoes Action 5 of the Cadiz Action Plan which emphasises the urgency to promote a more systematic integration of issues related to the root causes of irregular migration, including climate change, and forced displacement into national socio-economic development strategies and programmes, and development cooperation programmes, while promoting the ownership of existing regional normative frameworks.
