12 Months, 1 Question: February 2021

Disasters related to climate change are creating a new reality endangering many communities around the world. In 2009, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recognized that “Environmentally induced migration and displacement (is) a 21st-century challenge”. In the past decade, several institutional actors have come to recognize the magnitude of the problem and the need to address it as a human rights imperative.

In the month of February, we are going to explore this issue from several perspectives. How can States support and protect vulnerable populations ? What possibilities for solving this problem are emerging from the international arena? What lessons can be learned from grassroots initiatives that are already dealing with these problems? How can public authorities and civil society engage in effective prevention or mitigation of dangers to human and non-human populations caused by extreme weather and precarious environmental conditions?

Climate refugees

• Resolution 2307 (2019) - A legal status for “climate refugees”
  adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 3 October 2019
• Resolution 1655 (2009) - Environmentally induced migration and displacement: a 21st-century challenge
  adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 30 January 2009
• The role of local and regional governments in protecting internally displaced persons (IDPs) 
  Report of the Congress of local and regional authorities of the Council of Europe - 29 October 2019
• Major hazards, migrants, asylum seekers and refugees: Their inclusion in Disaster Preparedness and Management - European and Mediterranean Major Hazards Agreement (EUR-OPA) - 2017

Cultural heritage

• Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)3 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on cultural heritage facing climate change: increasing resilience and promoting adaptation
• Recommendation 2009 - 1 on Vulnerability of Cultural Heritage to Climate Change of the Committee of Permanent Correspondents
• 2018 International Conference on “Culture against disasters" organised by European University Centre for Cultural Heritage (CUEBC) and EUR-OPA in Ravello (Italy) on 28 and 29 September 2018.
• Cultural heritage facing climate change: experiences and ideas for resilience and adaptation
  This publication follows the International Conference on Cultural Heritage and Climate Change, held in Ravello, Italy, on 18 and 19 May 2017.

Water related risks

• Workshop on Climate change impact on water related and marine risks 
  Murcia (Spain) on 26-27 October 2009

• Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration and Refugees
• European and Mediterranean Major Hazards Agreement (EUR-OPA)
• etool on the inclusion of migrants in emergency management