Climate change, conflict and migration: the water context

21 September 2011, The Hague • The symposium will serve as a platform to discuss the links between climate change, water stress, migration and conflict from a human security perspective. The discussion will revolve around capacity building and resilience in hotspots, conflict prevention, and a (international) legal framework of protection of environmental migrants. Organized by several international partners and to be held at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague.

 

» Registration (free admittance!)

 

Date: Wednesday 21 September 2011
Time: 9.00 – 17.00 hrs (registration opens 8.30 hrs)
Venue: Institute of Social Studies, Kortenaerkade 12, 2518 AX  The Hague (NL)
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acrobat_icon Symposium flyer

 » Climate change: Threat to international peace and security, background article

 

The final product of this symposium will be policy recommendations as discussed by the symposium participants, afterwards presented to targeted (inter)national audiences, such as the United Nations with their various organs and specialised agencies, the European Union, national governments, and NGOs in the fields of humanitarian relief, peacebuilding, water management and the environment. A special audience may be the 17th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-17), to be held at the end of this year in Durban, South Africa.

The symposium will include presentations by prominent figures in the policy, security and legal perspectives of migration and conflict as climate change impacts on individuals. The overall keynote will be delivered by Prof Dr Rolain Borel, Head of the Department of Environment, Peace and Security at UPEACE. Major General (ret) Muniruzzaman, President of the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS), Bangladesh, will be presenting on the security perspective in its various dimensions. Dr Tamer Afifi, from the United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security, Bonn, Germany, will speak on the climate change and migration perspective. Joost van der Aalst, Chief of Mission, International Organisation for Migration, The Hague, will give an overview of international migration policy. Wybe Douma, senior researcher at the T.M. Asser Institute, The Hague, will focus on the the problematique in various international legal regimes, introducing draft recommendations.

 

Speakers:

• Mr Marius Enthoven – Chairman, Alliance for UPEACE
• Mr Rolain Borel – Head, Department of Environment, Peace and Security, University of Peace (UPEACE), Costa Rica
• Mr Muniruzzaman, Major General (ret) – President, Bangladesh Institute for Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS), Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Mr Tamer Afifi – Associate Academic Officer, United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), Bonn, Germany

 

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Panel, chaired by Mr Wouter Veening (Institute for Environmental Security):

• Ms Thanh-Dam Truong – Associate Professor of Women, Gender and Development, ISS, The Netherlands
• Ms Michele Nori – Programme Officer, EuropeAID European Commission, Belgium
• Mr Maarten Kappelle – Chief Conservation Officer for Biodiversity, WWF Netherlands, The Netherlands

 

Introductions by:
• Mr Joost van der Aalst – Chief of Mission, International Organisation for Migration, The Hague, The Netherlands
• Mr Wybe Douma – Senior Researcher, T.M. Asser Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands

 

A panel of experts with field experience will illustrate practical problems and solutions related to water availability and the protection against droughts and floods.


Organizers:

Alliance for the UN University of Peace (UPEACE), Costa Rica
Institute for Environmental Security
The Netherlands National Committee IHP-HWRP (UNESCO and WMO water programmes)
Institute for Social Studies (ISS)
UNESCO-IHE Insitute for Water Education
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Netherlands
Cordaid (Netherlands Catholic Organisation for Relief and Development Aid)
The Netherlands National Commission for UNESCO
World Wide Fund for Nature/Netherlands