SIDS Partnership Framework

Reporting template

As mandated by the SIDS Partnership Framework, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DES), in collaboration with the Steering Committee on Partnerships for SIDS, has developed a standardized reporting template and process for SIDS partnerships, for the purpose of informing all stakeholders on the progress of SIDS partnerships.

The template, and an upgraded SIDS Action Platform, is now available at www.sids2014.org. All focal points of SIDS partnerships are encouraged to engage and share their partnership updates through the established template, once a year until their partnership is completed.

Inputs through the template will be used to prepare relevant reports by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, as well be regularly featured in UN websites, social media channels, and newsletters. In addition, submitted inputs will be used to inform the 2030 Agenda follow-up and review process at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

Name of partnership:

Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Evidence for Policy (MECLEP)

Reporting year:

Status of the partnership (Complete, Cancelled, On-track, off track, Financial issues)

On-track

Achievement at a glance (max 100 words):

The project has advanced all three of its main components (research, capacity-building, knowledge sharing) and produced the following deliverables in the selected SIDS:

I. National Assessment Reports (reviews of existing evidence and policies on migration, environment and climate change);

II. Household surveys and case study reports in migrant destination areas vulnerable to environmental change (finalized for PNG and Haiti; Dominican Republic in drafting stage; Mauritius survey to begin in June 2016);

III. Training Manual on Migration Environment and Climate Change and Policymaker trainings;

IV. National policy consultations. Challenges faced in implementation (if any) (max 200 words):

Country-specific social and political risks such as changes in the governments in the pilot countries and political uncertainty before/after elections have delayed the approval process for some activities. However, the gap in time has been used to front-load all necessary preparations so that activities can begin immediately once government approval is received.

Violent clashes that have occurred between the community of IDPs from Manam Island and the local population in Madang Province in PNG have affected the feasibility of the household survey in that area. Only qualitative interviews were conducted with those who provided informed consent.

Environmental risk factors such as monsoon/hurricane seasons in the pilot countries have been taken into consideration and appropriate months to conduct surveys have been discussed with the MECLEP focal points and a Technical Working Group, in order to avoid risks of halting or delaying survey implementation.

Next steps (max 200 words)?

The immediate next steps will primarily entail collating and finalizing the findings from research undertaken in the remaining pilot countries, notably to:

 Finalize the case study report from the Dominican Republic and develop the report on Mauritius.  Continue developing Policy Briefs useful for all SIDS.  Increase outreach and communication channels and enhance the Environmental Migration Portal content.  Develop a final comparative report covering all countries included in the project.

Beneficiaries:

The MECLEP project has been carried out in six countries, of which 4 are SIDS. The six countries include the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Kenya, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea and Viet Nam. The pilot countries were chosen to illustrate how different forms of mobility, migration, displacement, and relocation may affect the environment and adaptation to climate change. Within these countries, the MECLEP project has focused on four main groups:

1) Local populations affected by environmental change. 2) Broader policy and research community interested in the implications of environmental change on migration. 3) National/local government officials and civil society organizations. 4) Research institutes working on issues of migration and/or environment.

How did they benefit? (max 200 words):

Local populations affected by environmental change: empirical evidence will contribute to accurate policy advice. A better understanding of the environmental migration causes, processes and consequences will contribute to higher livelihoods quality. Broader policy and research community interested in the implications of environmental change on migration: will have access to up to date information, comparative analysis, policy briefs and literature review summaries.

National/local government officials and civil society organizations: the outputs of the project will allow governments to implement environmental migration policies based on empirical knowledge, guaranteeing a greater success and potentially greater acceptance of the policies amongst local populations.

Research institutes working on issues of migration and/or environment: new research networks, tools, methodologies and findings are available, research gaps have been found and need further development.

Status on deliverables?

National Assessment Reports

- National Assessment Reports (review of existing evidence and policies on migration, environment and climate change) were prepared for all SIDS o DR (printed) - Diagnóstico de Informaciones para Políticas Públicas: Migración, Medioambiente y Cambio Climático en la República Dominicana; Spanish o Haiti (printed) - Defis, Enjeux et Politiques: Migrations, Environnement et Changements Climatiques en Haiti, French o Mauritius (sent to final approval to Technical Working Group) o PNG (printed) - Assessing the Evidence: Migration, Environment and Climate Change in Papua New Guinea, English

II. Survey Reports

- Households survey reports in migrant destination areas vulnerable to environmental change have been finalized for: o DR - in the drafting stage. o Haiti - Haiti has been finalized and is pending approval by the Technical Working Group o Mauritius - Survey teams have been recruited and the survey will start in June o PNG – the report has been finalized and approved by the Technical Working Group

III. Training Manual on Migration Environment and Climate Change and Policymaker trainings

- The project is designed to benefit the policymakers and practitioners, hence several outputs were implemented accordingly:

- English, French and Spanish versions of the Training Manual on Migration, Environment and Climate Change are being printed.

- The Training Manual on Migration, Environment and Climate Change was pilot tested in the following SIDS and their feedback was integrated in the final version:

o DR (July, 2015) - 94% scored the training as very good and 6% as good o Haiti (July, 2015) - 36% scored the training as very good and 64% as good o PNG (October, 2015) - 18% scored the training as very good and 76% as good

- 3 policy maker trainings were organized for the SIDS: o Papua New Guinea, October 2015 o Dominican Republic, July 2015 o Haiti, July 2015 o Planned: Mauritius, July 2016

IV. National policy consultations

- The project is designed to promote lasting partnerships among the project participants and to share their experience.

- Partly due to MECLEP consultation with government officials, Haiti included the environment in its draft migration and development policy.

- Further MECLEP products were developed to advance policy makers understanding: o Environmental Change, Natural Disasters and Human Mobility in Haiti video produced and featured at the European Development Days to advance the understanding of migration, environment and climate change in a real life scenario o 6 regional maps developed for each continent featuring impacts of climate change based on latest IPCC report and 5 infographics, including SIDS locations. o MECLEP Glossary published in 3 languages to facilitate understanding of terminology for local SIDS policymakers and practitioners: English, French and Spanish o Methodology paper: How can migration support adaptation? Different options to test the migration-adaptation nexus at SIDS o Data Briefing: Data on environmental migration: How much do we know? o UNU-Nansen policy brief: Mainstreaming migration into national adaptation plans o 15 Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Policy Brief Series have been developed. This tool aims to provide concise information easily accessible for policymakers and is part of the overall content of the online knowledge sharing platform. The following are useful for the SIDS. . Migrants and natural disasters: National law, policy and practice in the Americas (Issue 2 | Vol. 2) . Using migration to develop resilience against climate change in Mauritius (Issue 11 | Vol. 1) . Climate change and climate policy induced relocations: A challenge for social justice - Recommendations of the Bielefeld Consultation (Issue 10 | Vol. 1) . When do households benefit from migration? (Issue 8 | Vol. 1) . Some policies that might influence the relationship between environment and migration in the Dominican Republic (Issue 7 | Vol. 1) . Migration as adaptation? (Issue 5 | Vol. 1) . Remittances and disaster: Policy implications for disaster risk management (Issue 2 | Vol. 1)

- Dialogue tools were also developed to increase the outreach of the project results and enhance knowledge sharing o Environmental Migration Portal Newsletter (English; 14 issues; over 1,100 subscribers). The newsletter gives an overview of recent events, update on the MECLEP project activities and new entries on the Portal. . April 2016 issue ; All past issues . Quarterly Newsletters in French and Spanish (2016) o Environmental Migration Portal: Knowledge Platform on People on the Move in a Changing Climate (www.environmentalmigration.iom.int) . English, French and Spanish . Over 500 entries on the online research database o Social Media channels to communicate the project outputs, encourage discussion and share knowledge are also in place. The outreach of these tools is as follows: . Facebook page: 408 likes . LinkedIn Group: 409 members . Twitter followers: 863 (1,458 tweets)

V. Household surveys and case study reports

- 53 local researchers trained during 4 capacity building workshops: o Dominican Republic (7) o Haiti (22) o Papua New Guinea (11) o Mauritius (13)

- Household surveys completed in 2 countries: o Completed in Haiti, Dominican Republic o Mauritius (ongoing)

New deliverables?

Refer to section on next steps.

Relevant documents

Please send completed form to: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/contact