The global severity of climate change is alarming, with losses in lives, livelihoods, and infrastructure, all contributing to increased rates of human mobility. Human mobility, often referred to as migration, is typically driven by multiple and interrelated factors. It can be regular or irregular, temporary or permanent, voluntary or involuntary, and occur internally or across borders.

In Africa, human mobility has faced several challenges, including difficulty in understanding migration patterns and a lack of financing to manage it effectively. This challenge stems from the absence of climate mobility considerations in mainstream climate finance discussions.

According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (2023), there were 7.4 million new internal disaster displacements recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa. These figures emphasize the reality of forced migrations and highlight the need to facilitate regular migration for those who must move, while also protecting those already in transit.

To address this issue, the landmark Kampala Ministerial Declaration on Migration, Environment, and Climate Change (KDMECC) was established in July 2022 by East and Horn of Africa states. It was later expanded to the continental level as KDMECC-AFRICA during the first Africa Climate Summit.

KDMECC is a comprehensive, action-oriented framework with commitments focused on social inclusion, human livelihoods, finance and investment, policy and regulatory actions, as well as climate mitigation and adaptation. Its goal is to address the challenges and opportunities climate change and mobility bring to development by building the resilience of populations to adapt to climate change.

An assessment of the current climate financing architecture, undertaken by the IOM UN Migration and KDMECC, emphasizes support for the 2022 request made by the first 15 signatories of the KDMECC to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The request calls for the creation of a Multi-Partner Financing Instrument, which includes a focus on youth, to avert, minimize, and address loss and damage while advancing the Global Goal of Adaptation in East Africa and the Horn of Africa.

In recognizing the existing financing gap for addressing climate-induced human mobility, the assessment also calls for the collection of additional data on human mobility. This data would improve monitoring and transparency, thereby enhancing financial flows to manage climate mobility effectively.

Well-managed migration, in the context of climate change and environmental degradation, can serve as a positive adaptation strategy to mitigate the effects of climate impacts. Supporting informed decision-making and enabling safe migration can contribute to both sustainable development and climate change adaptation.

Key points:

• Migration as an adaptation strategy: Migration, when managed safely, orderly, and regularly, can enhance the positive impacts on migrants, their families, and both their origin and destination communities.
• Migration can also support livelihood diversification and strengthen sustainable development. In origin communities, migration can reduce pressure on natural resources, lead to the acquisition of new adaptive skills, and increase household savings through remittances, which can be invested in resilience-building efforts.

Equally important is offering sustainable adaptation options for people choosing to remain in their areas of origin. Strengthening prevention, preparedness, risk reduction, and sustainable development interventions ensures that those who stay can do so with dignity and safety.

As the adverse impacts of climate change intensify, those who migrate should have access to essential services, including nutritious food, shelter, water, sanitation, hygiene, healthcare, education, livelihoods, and legal documentation.

When human mobility is well-planned and adequately supported, migrants can significantly contribute to building the resilience of both their host countries and their countries of origin to adapt to climate change. This can be achieved through diaspora engagement, skills and knowledge transfer, remittances, and investment in host communities