Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
George Alleyne, Nelson King,
Vinette K. Pryce, Bert Wilkinson
GENERAL INFORMATION (718) 260-2500
Caribbean L 10 ife, Aug. 9-15, 2019 Q
By Dina Ionesco
Dina Ionesco is the head
of the Migration, Environment
and Climate Change
Division at the UN International
Organization for
Migration (IOM), which
has been at the forefront
of efforts to study the links
between migration, the
environment and climate.
UNITED NATIONS, Aug.
6, 2019 (IPS) — The Atlas of
Environmental Migration,
which gives examples dating
as far back as 45,000
years ago, shows that environmental
changes and natural
disasters have played a
role in how the population
is distributed on our planet
throughout history.
However, it is highly
likely that undesirable environmental
changes directly
created by, or amplified by,
climate change, will extensively
change the patterns of
human settlement.
Future degradation of
land used for agriculture
and farming, the disruption
of fragile ecosystems and
the depletion of precious
natural resources like fresh
water will directly impact
people’s lives and homes.
The climate crisis is
already having an effect:
according to the Internal
Displacement Monitoring
Centre, 17.2 million people
had to leave their homes
last year, because of disasters
that negatively affected
their lives.
Slow changes in the environment,
such as ocean
acidification, desertification
and coastal erosion, are also
directly impacting people’s
livelihoods and their capacity
to survive in their places
of origin.
There is a strong possibility
that more people will
migrate in search of better
opportunities, as living conditions
get worse in their
places of origin:
There are predictions for
the twenty-first century
indicating that even more
people will have to move
as a result of these adverse
climate impacts. The Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), the
main UN authority on climate
science, has repeatedly
said that the changes
brought on by the climate
crisis will influence migration
patterns.
The World Bank has
put forward projections for
internal climate migration
amounting to 143 million
people by 2050 in three
regions of the world, if no
climate action is taken.
However, our level of
awareness and understanding
of how environmental
factors affect migration,
and how they also interact
with other migration drivers
such as demographic,
political and economic conditions,
has also changed.
With enhanced knowledge,
there is more incentive to
act urgently, be prepared
and respond.
The Global Compact
for Migration:
a roadmap for
governments
In the past decade, there
has been a growing political
awareness of the issues
around environmental
migration, and increasing
acceptance that this is a
global challenge.
As a result, many states
have signed up to landmark
agreements, such as
the Paris Climate Change
Agreement, the Sendai
Framework for Disaster
Risk Reduction and the Global
Compact for Migration,
which marks a clear way
forward for governments to
address the issue of climate
and migration.
The Compact contains
many references to environmental
migration including
a whole section on measures
to address environmental
and climate challenges: it is
the first time that a comprehensive
vision has been laid
out, showing how states can
handle — now and in the
future — the impacts of climate
change, disasters and
environmental degradation
on international migration.
Our analysis of the Compact
highlights the priorities
of states, when it comes
to addressing environmental
migration. Their primary
concern is to “minimize the
adverse drivers and structural
factors that compel
people to leave their country
of origin,” in particular
the “natural disasters, the
adverse effects of climate
change, and environmental
degradation.”
In other words, the main
priority is to find solutions
that allow people to stay in
By Wellington C. Ramos
From the time our people
were forcefully removed from
Baliceaux, St. Vincent & The
Grenadines where they were
imprisoned, tortured, killed
and buried in 1797 to Roatan,
Honduras their lives have
never been the same in the
countries of Honduras, Nicaragua,
Guatemala, Belize and
the United States of America
where they live today. This act
of genocide that was committed
by the British against us
has never been addressed and
forcefully challenged by our
government in St. Vincent and
The Grenadines.
Why? Because of the French
and British intention to do everything
in their capacity to
eradicate our people from this
planet earth. Due to the fact
that they failed to enslave, colonize
our nation and subjugate
us as slaves they became hateful.
We fought against these
two powerful nations and were
victorious in some of our wars
against them, which led to
treaties that were signed. After
we were dumped in a far isolated
place, they changed our
original names and gave us
Spanish names, which we bear
up to this day. This was done
to change our identities so we
could not trace our families
back in Saint Vincent.
What they failed to realize, is
that our physical removal from
our motherland, did not separate
us from the souls and spirits
of our ancestors who were
left behind, travelled with us
and remain with us up to this
day. When St. Vincent became
independent on the Oct. 27,
1979, they had the power to
declare that the descendants of
those who were removed from
St. Vincent by the British who
now live in the diaspora, are
citizens of our nation and must
be recognized as such.
All Garifuna people from the
time they were removed, were
and continue to tell their children
that St. Vincent is their
motherland. It is not too late
for the government of St. Vincent
and The Grenadines to
take this necessary and justifiable
bold action in their
parliament. This will be much
appreciated by their brothers
and sisters who were all left
homeless by the British. When
our people were removed from
their homeland, their citizenship
status in the diaspora
countries was not determined.
When these countries started
to partially acknowledge us,
they treated us like strangers
despite the fact that we were
born there. This human rights
violation is happening in all
the diaspora countries especially
in Honduras where our
people have been killed on several
occasions.
The government of St. Vincent
has a legal obligation to
OP-EDS
The World Bank
has put forward
projections for
internal climate
migration
amounting to 143
million people
by 2050 in three
regions of the
world, if no climate
action is taken.
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Continued on Page 11
Continued on Page 11
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Environmental migration
a global challenge
Garifuna’s painful
experience visiting
motherland
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