On Saturday the 5^th of September, participants from around the globe tuned in to listen to the first expert lead session in the Climate Justice Impact Series focusing on migration. The project, implemented jointly between Liberal International and D66 International, is aimed at raising awareness of the growing issue of human mobility linked to climate. Liberal International’s Climate Justice Committee, established in 2018 to identify and fight the root causes of inequality linked to the climate crisis, is fully engaged in the initiative and will be supporting throughout the duration of the campaign.

Main Outcomes

• Dr Ingrid Boas, Associate Professor in the Environmental Policy Group of Wageningen University, outlined the main academic points regarding climate-induced migration, using her own research as a red thread to brief the participants.
• Climate-induced migration, human mobility, climate displacement or environmental-related migration are amongst the options of defining this phenomenon. The participants agreed that an appropriate starting point of this project is to define the terminology to be adopted when viewing the issue from a liberal perspective.
• The expert session was divided into two sections: one public-facing and one closed session for participants only.
• Participants set about outlining possible bases for a campaign on the topic of climate-related human mobility.

The Project

Climate-induced migration, human mobility, or climate displacement is an ever-increasing issue on the international stage, with some estimates putting the number of movements up to 70 million per year. Liberal International and D66 International have come together to organise a series of experts level sessions on this topic, in order to inform the public and provide information to liberal colleagues taking part of in the project.

Over the period of one month, 15 knowledgeable liberal activists will discuss the issues surrounding climate & migration with experts from academia, policy, and field practitioners in order to take in as broad a perspective as possible before they develop a liberally aligned campaign on this very important topic.

Next Steps

On Saturday 12^th September, participants will meet with a range of experts on the policy and field practitioner level to discuss the realities of what mass migration looks like and the human cost associated with a lack of policy dedicated toward tackling our changing climate. The first hour of each webinar will be public and we warmly encourage the people to join us on this journey!

WATCH WEBINAR SESSION