IOM and EIB join forces to promote safety of migrants and resilience of affected communities

ByEuropean Investment Bank

IOM and EIB join forces to promote safety of migrants and resilience of affected communities

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the European Investment Bank (EIB)  signed an agreement that aims to strengthen their collaboration in supporting safe, humane, and regular migration while enhancing economic resilience and climate adaptation of countries of origin, transit, and destination.

According to the World Migration Report (WMR 2020), out of a global population of 7.7 billion people in 2019, 272 million were international migrants, a number and proportion that already surpassed some projections made for 2050.

The five-year-long partnership, in line with the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, will focus on labor mobility and migrant integration; displacement, humanitarian assistance, and emergency response; climate change and its impact on migration; migration and health including COVID-19 response; developmental and peace nexus; technology, data, and innovation.

“IOM has called for a stronger focus on human mobility inclusion in climate policies,” said IOM Director General António Vitorino. “The partnership signed with EIB is a strategic step towards acknowledging the connections between climate change, the pandemic recovery, and the SDGs, and reinforcing efforts to ensure the implementation of the Global Compact on Migration.”

“The effects of climate change are hitting disproportionately the poorest and most vulnerable regions, communities and individuals.”, said EIB Vice-President Ricardo Mourinho Félix. “People are being displaced because they lack access to drinking water and food or simply because their places are not liveable anymore. Climate adaptation will play a key role in building a more resilient society leaving no one behind. EIB is very pleased to join forces with IOM and contribute together to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”

The past few decades have seen a rise in human mobility because of climate change and environmental degradation. In 2020, almost 31 million new displacements were triggered by disasters, 98 per cent of which were weather-related. According to the World Bank, by 2050, without concrete climate and development action, climate change could force more than 216 million people to migrate within their own countries, mainly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.