Forum on Good living – Focus on climate migration

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As part of the Forum on Good Living, UCLG and the city of Grenoble held a series of international meetings on climate migration, with themes that focused on “Human mobility, climate change, environmental rights: what role for local and regional authorities? », on June 29 and July 01 , 2022; then on “Territorial dialogues on climate and human mobility: local governments on the front line” on June 30, 2022 organized with the partners of the MC2CM project.

For these events, the UCLG Committee for Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy, and Human Rights (UCLG- CSIPDHR), MC2CM and the city of Grenoble facilitated the participation in the discussions of several African cities, including 2 face-to-face cities (Gao, Mali; Sfax, Tunisia) and 2 virtual cities (Lere, Nigeria; Afadzato South district, Ghana) for sharing experiences with peers, but also to discuss realities on the ground with associations from the city of Grenoble.

The first day was dedicated to field visits. Mr. Emmanuel Carroz, Deputy Mayor of the City of Grenoble, welcomed the delegation to Maison de l’International where himself, as well as Mr. Eric Recoura (Director of Grenoble Open City) and Mr. Diego Fernandez-Varas presented the policy of hospitality of the city, its migration profile, as well as projects around citizen participation and initiatives related to climate and migration. The delegation then visited the headquarters of 3 citizen associations supported by the Mayor of Grenoble and carrying out concrete actions in the field of support and integration of migrants: CUISINE SANS FRONTIÈRE (training of migrant people in cooking for their professional integration ); BEYTI (promotion of Arab culture and support courses in French); 3 AMIE (support to young migrants to obtain the CAP [1]  in the building trade); and APARDAP (sponsorship of migrants to obtain residence permits and social housing). At the end of the day, the delegation visited the “Gardens without borders”, a citizen and migrant initiative resulting from the participatory budget set up by the city of Grenoble. This garden is maintained by the inhabitants of Grenoble (migrants and natives of Grenoble) and contributes to supplying fruit, vegetables and honey to associations helping people in the city.

The Territorial Dialogues on Climate and Human Mobility started on June 30 and aimed to show the action of local authorities on the front line on climate migration issues. The session shed light on the relationship between human mobility and climate change and the different trends in policies and initiatives by local authorities to mitigate or adapt to climate change. This session was attended by Ms. Pefi Kingi, from the Australian Pacific Women’s Association, who welcomed the mobilization of elected officials around the world on the climate emergency. Then, local and regional governments brought their testimony, which was the case for Mrs. Leila Abdel Youssef of the Municipality of Irbid (Jordan), and Mr. Victor Bahamonde, Region of Valparaiso, Colombia. Ms. Harmonie Lecerf, Solidarity Assistant for the city of Bordeaux, highlighted the difficult reconciliation between the desire of certain French cities to welcome migrants and the hostile policy of the national Government on the issue of migration and also the lack of competences and financial resources of local and regional governments.

African local and regional governments also contributed to the discussions with the intervention of Mr. Wajdi Aydi, Deputy Mayor of Sfax, who insisted on the collaboration between associations and elected officials to improve the reception of migrants, a path that the city of Sfax is already following. Mr. James Etornam Flolu, Young Mayor of Afadzato South District (Ghana) and member of the YELO network (Network of Young Local Elected Officials) of UCLG Africa, spoke about the effects of climate change on his city and the emergency measures that he had to put in place (ban on the felling of trees, soil reforestation campaign).

The afternoon continued with more in-depth discussions on the solutions developed by local elected officials and their partners in their territories. The Deputy Mayor of Gao, Mr. Ben Maouloud, mentioned the difficulties facing his city despite the involvement of local populations. The silting up of water points, the advance of the desert, in addition to the security situation in the West African region, make it difficult to protect human rights. It is also the same testimony that the participants in the meetings heard on the Nigerian side, from the Mayor of Lere, one of the youngest mayors in Nigeria, Mr. Abubakar Buba. Thanks to its local elected officials, the city located on a semi-arid territory, organizes its resilience and works on solutions to adapt to climate change.

For the continuation of the activities, the African elected representatives took part in other meetings:

  1. Informative meetings: Presentation of the IOPD Forum and European Green Capital celebration (December 2022); Presentation of the upcoming UCLG World Congress in Daejeon, of the global campaign “10, 100, 1000 Human Rights Cities and Territories for 2030” (October 2022); and Presentation of Anvita and the Migration Alliance
  2. Discussion workshops: The Deputy Mayor of Gao, Mr. Ben Maouloud and the Deputy Mayor of Sfax, Mr. Wajdi Aydi, took part in discussions on the debate “For a better reception policy: how to organize collaboration between the local governments and civil society? “.

Document related to the activities

French & English program

Youth  WebTV on climate migration

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEW5vqUeQRM

[1]Professional Skills Certificate)