United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)

City, Country:

Multiple countries

Region of Work:

Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania, Global

Objective / Mission Statement:

OCHA's mission is to:

- Mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors in order to alleviate human suffering in disasters and emergencies.
- Advocate the rights of people in need.
- Promote preparedness and prevention.
- Facilitate sustainable solutions.

Area of Work Relevant to PDD:

Humanitarian Assistance, Humanitarian Protection

Key activities relevant to PDD:

- Coordination
To coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors.
- Policy
o OCHA sets an evidence-based and forward-looking humanitarian policy agenda to identify emerging trends and develop common or harmonized policy and advocacy positions among relief organizations.
o OCHA provides policy guidance and clarity on pressing issues to humanitarian practitioners and policy-makers, to help strengthen effective and timely response
o OCHA identifies best practices and lessons learned through the evaluation of humanitarian action to enhance effectiveness and the accountability of those involved
- Advocacy
Communicating the right messages to the right people at the right time, including humanitarian agencies, NGOs, community-based organizations, national governments, local and international media, parties to conflict, companies, donors, regional bodies, communities affected by emergencies and the general public.
- Information management
OCHA offices collect and analyse information to provide an overview of protracted and acute emergencies.
- Humanitarian funding
OCHA coordinates global humanitarian funding appeals and manages global and country-specific humanitarian response funds on behalf of donors and the broader humanitarian system.

Website:

www.unocha.org

Facebook:

www.facebook.com/UNOCHA/

Twitter:

twitter.com/UNOCHA

Flickr:

www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/

Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/ochafilms

United Nations Office of High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Affiliation or Individual:

Volker Türk, Ellen Hansen, Marine Franck

City, Country:

Geneva, Switzerland

Region of Work:

Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania, Global

Objective / Mission Statement:

UNHCR is a global organisation dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. We work to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge, having fled violence, persecution, war or disaster at home.

Area of Work Relevant to PDD:

Humanitarian Assistance, Humanitarian Protection, Refugee Protection, Human Rights

Key activities relevant to PDD:

UNHCR is a directly supports the PDD coordination unit, is a member of the Advisory Committee, and an observer to Steering Group.
UNHCR further:
1. Undertakes field operations to prevent and to address internal and cross-border disaster displacement.
2. Develops and supports new national legislation, as well as international and regional norms, and guidance, to better protect the rights of people displaced in the context of disasters and climate change.
3. Works to promote policy coherence to ensure that issues of disaster displacement are effectively mainstreamed across other relevant policy arenas.
4. Contributes to fill gaps that underpin this operational and policy work through research.

Website:

http://www.unhcr.org/climate-change-and-disasters.html

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/UNHCR/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/Refugees

Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/unhcr/

Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/unhcr

UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)

City, Country:

BONN, GERMANY

Region of Work:

Global

Objective / Mission Statement:

The United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) generates knowledge to reduce risks related to environmental hazards and global change, through cutting-edge research and education.

Area of Work Relevant to PDD:

Migration, Human Rights, Climate Change Action, Development

Key activities relevant to PDD:

• 2007-2009: Environmental Change and Forced Migration Scenarios (EACH-FOR) Project
• 2009-2010: Transatlantic Study Project on Climate Change and Migration (German Marshall Fund)
• 2011: ‘Human Mobility in the Horn of Africa’ Project (UNHCR)
• 2011-2012: ‘Where the rain falls’ Project (Mac Arthur Foundation, AXA Group)
• 2013: Nansen Initiative Regional Consultations (Pacific)
• 2014-2016: ‘Migration, Environment and Climate Change: The Case for Policy’ (IOM)
• 2014-2016: ‘Pacific Climate Change and Migration’ (UNESCAP, ILO, UNDP)
• 2015: ‘Promoting Human Security and minimizing Conflict Associated with Forced Migration in the Pacific Region’ (PIFS, UNU-GCM)
• 2016-2018: ‘Migration and Human Rights in the wake of Climate Change’ (AXA Research Fund)
• UNU wide activities
o UNFCCC COPs yearly participation since 2007
o Climate Change, Environment and Migration (CCEMA) Alliance (since 2008) (IOM, MRF, UNEP)
o 2017: Chair of the Global Migration Group (UNU Rector)
o UNU Migration Network (https://migration.unu.edu/)

Website:

https://ehs.unu.edu/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/unuehs/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/UNUEHS

Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9NMXCzVpZ9dCN6JcQLUVQg

University for Peace Africa Programme and Institute for Environmental Security

Affiliation or Individual:

Marcel Leroy

City, Country:

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Region of Work:

Africa

Objective / Mission Statement:

- The mission of the University for Peace Africa Programme is to stimulate cooperation and to help lessen obstacles and threats to peace and development. Its scope is the entire continent of Africa, complementing and amplifying the work of the main UPEACE campus in Costa Rica.
- The Institute for Environmental Security aims at advancing security by supporting the regenerative capacity of ecosystems. Its research is multidisciplinary and is designed to support policy makers with safeguarding conditions for peace and sustainable development as well as to tackle environmental security risks as they arise.

Area of Work Relevant to PDD:

Migration, Development

Key activities relevant to PDD:

- The UPEACE Africa Programme is active in education and offers a joint MA programme in peace and conflict studies with Addis Ababa University, and also coordinates PhD studies in peace and security with a consortium of a dozen African universities. In house research has centred on the role of environment and natural resources in African conflicts as well as on the impact of climate change, particularly as it affects pastoralists.
- The Institute for Environmental Security (IES) carries out the following ongoing projects in accordance with its objectives:
-IES is a member of the consortium which organises the annual Planetary Security Conference on behalf of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
-implementation of the European Union Action to Fight Environmental Crime (EFFACE) regarding illegal dumping of toxic waste
-organising Roundtables on Climate and Security with diplomatic missions and international bodies in The Hague and Brussels
-IES initiated and manages the Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change (GMACCC) with participation from developed and less developed countries
-IES implements the COBRA Project on the Guyana Shield (Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guyana) using remote sensing to assess environmental changes and facilitate community owned solutions for managing ecosystem services
-IES carries out assessments on Environmental Security for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia.
-in collaboration with the Ethiopian Civil Service University, IES is setting up a Master’s Programme in Migration and Development, as well as in-house research in this field.

Website:

www.africa-upeace.org www.envirosecurity.org

University of Florida (Department of Anthropology)

Affiliation or Individual:

Anthony Oliver Smith

City, Country:

Gainesville, Florida, USA

Region of Work:

Objective / Mission Statement:

As researcher and consultant, I have worked on issues of displacement related to disasters and environmental change for over 40 years. Main areas of research include post-disaster resettlement and housing, resettlement for DRR, resistance to resettlement, social and cultural losses in displacement, reconstruction, CCA and DRR.

Area of Work Relevant to PDD:

Migration, Human Rights, Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change Action, Development

Key activities relevant to PDD:

Research and consultation (Displacement Solutions) with Kuna Indians of Panama; Research on climate change and migration in Peru (Oxfam America and UNU-EHS); Research on disaster, displacement and resettlement in Peru; Consultation on post-disaster housing education in Jamaica (Basic Health Management and USAID); co-author, UNU-EHS policy briefs (#7 on loss and damage, social vulnerability and resilience; and #9 on non-economic loss and damage) for COP talks; Member, American Anthropological Association Task Force on Global Climate Change; Author of over 40 (of a total of 107) publications related to various types displacement and resettlement, including disasters, climate change, and development projects.

Website:

anthonyoliver-smith.net

University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS)

Affiliation or Individual:

John R Campbell, Richard Black

City, Country:

London, England

Region of Work:

Objective / Mission Statement:

Development, human rights and refugees have been a central focus of my professional carer. More recently I have focused on the refugee determination system in the UK and Ethiopia, and the examination of refugee civil and criminal law.

Area of Work Relevant to PDD:

Refugee Protection, Migration, Development

Key activities relevant to PDD:

Development consultant in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Botswana; Research on refugees, urban development/cities in Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia and the United Kingdom.

Website:

www.soas.ac.uk

University of the Arts London

Affiliation or Individual:

Prof. Oriana Baddeley

City, Country:

London, UK

Region of Work:

Europe

Objective / Mission Statement:

University of the Arts London (UAL) specializes in art and design, offering an extensive range of internationally recognized courses at various levels of study. UAL's mature research community has a strong focus on social art practices and is committed to engaging with pressing social, cultural and political issues.

Area of Work Relevant to PDD:

Human Rights, Climate Change Action

Key activities relevant to PDD:

Key activities include curating exhibitions and events that profile the role of the arts and creativity as valuable means for raising the profile and visibility of disaster displacement related issues to both policymakers and the wider public. Events and exhibitions will seek to coincide with major events relevant to disaster displacement, such as conferences, symposia, global and local gatherings, and policy meetings. These cultural activities will be developed through engagement with professional artists and local artists and communities, and based upon sound research carried out using a vital combination of collaboration, evidence and artistic interpretation.

Website:

www.arts.ac.uk

University of Virginia (Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy)

Affiliation or Individual:

David Leblang , Kirsten Gelsdorf

City, Country:

Charlottesville, VA USA

Region of Work:

Global

Objective / Mission Statement:

Our mission is to enhance - "both in terms of breadth and depth" - the global research and teaching mission of the Batten School; fostering global research, engagement, and leadership and public policy among UVA faculty. The center provides strategic guidance and support to Batten's academic priorities and emphasizes promoting engagement in the external global policy environment.

Area of Work Relevant to PDD:

Humanitarian Assistance, Migration, Climate Change Action, Development

Key activities relevant to PDD:

Modeling, mapping, and forecasting flows of migrants, refugees, and unaccompanied minors; what are the environmental, political, and economic factors that drive these flows. Data collection and cultivation; standardization of relevant datasets and evidence. Development of graphical user interface to share results of modelling exercises.

Website:

http://batten.virginia.edu/research/centers/global-policy-center

Vikram Kolmannskog

City, Country:

Oslo, Norway

Region of Work:

Europe

Objective / Mission Statement:

legal and socio-legal scholar

Area of Work Relevant to PDD:

Humanitarian Assistance, Humanitarian Protection, Refugee Protection, Migration, Human Rights, Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change Action

Key activities relevant to PDD:

Research.

Website:

www.Vikram.no

Walter Kälin, Envoy of the Platform on Disaster Displacement

City, Country:

Bern, Switzerland

Region of Work:

Global

Objective / Mission Statement:

Envoy of the Chairmanship; former Envoy of the Nansen Initiative and Current Envoy of the Platform on Disaster Displacement

Area of Work Relevant to PDD:

Humanitarian Protection, Human Rights

Key activities relevant to PDD:

As former Envoy of the Nansen Initiative, advisor to the Chairmanship of the PDD and academic with a focus and human rights and displacement issues I can mainly contribute to legal and strategic issues relevant for the Platform's work.

Website:

http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/ueber_uns/personen/prof_dr_kaelin_walter/index_ger.html

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/wakaelin?lang=en

World Bank - Thematic Working Group Environmental Change & Migration (KNOMAD)

Affiliation or Individual:

Kanta Kumari Rigaud

City, Country:

Washington DC, USA

Region of Work:

Global

Objective / Mission Statement:

The World Bank’s stated mission is to achieve the twin goals of ending extreme poverty and building shared prosperity. KNOMAD Environmental Change and Migration thematic working group explores the interconnections between environmental change, resilience and migration.

Area of Work Relevant to PDD:

Climate Change Action, Development

Key activities relevant to PDD:

Leading the Bank’s flagship report on climate change and migration which aims to project and characterize internal migration induced by slow onset climate change impacts; Bank’s focal point for the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience which works to mainstream climate resilience countries into planning and investments in 28 countries worldwide.

KNOMAD Environmental Change and Migration working group explores the interconnections between environmental change, resilience and migration with a specific focus on data and analytic tools; integration of mobility considerations into adaptation and climate resilience planning; and (iii) the role of resilience and vulnerability as determinants of environmentally-induced mobility.