112 | Giving Migrants a Voice

Mariam has been working for a decade on the migration and climate change nexus, helping policymakers identify potential solutions to respond to one of the great policy challenges of our times. Her work involves writing, training, promotion, and other activities all with the aim to make sure that issues of migration are represented in discussions about responses to climate change. 

Migration and climate change are often separate topics at the institutional and policy levels. The international apparatus that exists to address migration was formed to address migrations instigated by war, political persecution, and similar factors. Over the years, however, climate change has also become a trigger for migration. Consequently, no discussion of one of the two topics would be complete without addressing the other.

Mariam has coordinated IOM’s global inputs to the UNFCCC process for COP20 and COP21 and has led training sessions, side events, press conferences, and exhibitions related to migration in a changing climate.

Mariam is also the editor of the IOM Outlook on Migration, Environment and Climate Change (2014) and author of “Law Review: Environmental Migration – Human Rights and Legal Issues”, Insights on Law and Society, American Bar Association, Chicago, (2014) and “Organizational Perspectives on Environmental Migration”, Routledge, London, (2015).

We were lucky enough to be joined by Ms. Chazalnoel on Social Design Insights, where she talked with us about migration and its future in a climate-changed world.