What is COP29 and why is migration crucial in the fight against climate change?

A storm that wipes out everything, or a drought that leaves the land without any possibility of cultivation. What would you do in such a situation? Far from being a hypothetical, more and more people are having this dilemma. The reality is that climate change has long made it difficult to stay in the most exposed communities. 

This scenario raises humanitarian and human rights challenges, and highlights the urgent need for effective cooperation to mitigate its impacts and assist displaced people and migrants. It is clear that it is not just about a world with higher temperatures; the real issue lies in how this affects everything around us, its devastating impact on our lives and on future generations. 

To address this issue, the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP29, will take place from November 11-22 in Baku, Azerbaijan. There, representatives of the 197 countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992, as well as industry experts, will meet to discuss solutions to the climate crisis and evaluate international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Towards COP29: which will be some of the main points of the debate?

The COP (an acronym that stands for “Conference of the Parties”), is a meeting that has been held annually since 1995, with a single exception in 2020, which had to be suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

In this, its twenty-ninth edition, it will work under the following three-pronged strategy:

1. Main objective: limit global temperature increase to less than 1.5 °C compared to pre-industrial levels, as defined in the 2015 Paris Agreement. 

2. Two key pillars: the COP29 presidency's plan relies on increasing ambition, pushing countries to develop more demanding and transparent climate plans, and on facilitating action, with finance as an essential tool both to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change and to address loss and damage. 

3. Inclusive process: COP29 prioritizes equitable and consensual outcomes, encouraging the participation of as many stakeholders as possible so that all voices contribute to building shared solutions. 

Although its formal venue is Bonn, Germany (where the UN Climate Change Secretariat resides), the Americas are no strangers to the history of the COP. The region has ratified its commitment to climate action and hosted the meeting on five occasions: 

• 1998 and 2004: Buenos Aires, Argentina 

• 2005: Montreal, Canada 

• 2010: Cancún, Mexico 

• 2014: Lima, Peru 

Chile assumed the presidency of the process in 2019 during COP25, although the summit was held in Madrid, Spain.

In 2025, the list of venues in the Americas will expand when Belém, Brazil, becomes the host city for COP30.

What is climate migraiton?

According to the IOM Glossary, the concept of climate migration refers to the movement of a person or group of people who, mainly due to a sudden or gradual change in the environment as a result of climate change, are forced to leave their place of habitual residence, or choose to do so, on a temporary or permanent basis, within a country or across an international border. 

Here are some key facts and concepts that show why it is so important to think about migration and climate change:  

•  According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), in 2023, 75% of displacements in the Americas (2.1 million) were due to disasters, mainly floods and storms (1.5 million) but also extreme temperatures, forest fires and droughts, among others. 
  While not all disaster-related displacement is climate-related, it is also true that climate change is making extreme events more frequent and intense, increasing the risk that more and more people will have to leave their homes. 

• Rural and coastal communities are the most affected due to their vulnerability. Latin America and the Caribbean, because of their geography and natural resource-dependent development, are particularly exposed. 

• Internal migration can increase pressure on cities, which in some cases already face saturated services. 

• This also represents a challenge for receiving communities: if not properly managed, the arrival of climate migrants can lead to social tensions and competition for resources. 

Let's get to work! 

COP29 is not just about reducing emissions, it is also a huge opportunity to address one of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century: climate migration. And this is paramount, because how the world responds to this crisis will have a significant impact on the fate of millions of people. It is a call to action, in short, for all of us to understand the connection between the two issues, and to work together towards sustainable solutions.