Climate Migration Press Release

The Mayors Migration Council Joins the International Climate Migration Council

By Mayors Migration Council

New York City, September 19, 2022 — Today, the Mayors Migration Council announced they will be joining policymakers and advocates from all over the world as a founding member of the Climate Migration Council, a coalition of government, business, national security, academic, and advocacy leaders who share a commitment to putting people at the center of climate action and to accelerate global solutions to climate-driven migration. 

By signing the Council’s Climate Migration Declaration, the Mayors Migration Council recognizes that the climate crisis acts as a powerful accelerant to migration patterns, and that there remains a global need for legal pathways, clear institutional leadership and new integrated strategies at all levels of governance that anticipate and safely accommodate the increasing numbers of people affected by the climate crisis. 

“The impact of the climate crisis effects can no longer be disconnected from forced migration patterns,” said Vittoria Zanuso, Executive Director of the Mayors Migration Council. “Mayors around the world are teaming up to develop inclusive responses to these deeply interconnected and urgent issues. I’m excited to be a part of the Climate Migration Council and get to work alongside global leaders on making the changes we need. Our international community must address the root causes of the accelerated climate crisis as well as create legal pathways and new strategies to anticipate and safely accommodate the increasing numbers of people displaced by the climate crisis.”

Climate migration is a global issue that’s accelerating, with over 200 million individuals expected to be displaced by 2050 due to climate crises. Already, residents of Isle de Jean Charles have been forced to relocate due to climate change-related land loss in Louisiana, USA, climate migrants in Honduras are fleeing due to devastating cyclones, and the Horn of Africa’s debilitating droughts are drying up water sources and forcing people to leave their homes in search of food, water, and pasture for their cattle.

Other members of the Climate Migration Council include:

  • T. Alexander Aleinikoff, University Professor and Director of the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility, The New School; United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees (2010-2015)
  • Luis Almagro, 10th Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS)
  • Carlos Alvarado Quesada, President of Costa Rica (2018-2022)
  • José Andrés, Founder, World Central Kitchen
  • Manish Bapna, President and CEO of National Resources Defense Council
  • Rebecca Bill Chavez, President of Inter-American Dialogue; Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Western Hemisphere (2013-2016)
  • Carl J. Bon Tempo, Associate Professor of History, University at Albany, SUNY
  • John Bridgeland, Former Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, United States
  • Michael Chertoff, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security (2005-2009)
  • Laura Chinchilla, President of Costa Rica (2010-2014)
  • Sergio Diaz Granados, Executive President of CAF – Development Bank of Latin America
  • Ivan Duque, President of Colombia (2018-2022)
  • Jan Egeland, Secretary General, Norwegian Refugee Council
  • John Feeley, Executive Director for Center for Media Integrity of the Americas
  • Elizabeth Ferris, Director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University
  • Lori Garver, Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (2009-2013)
  • Todd Gloria, Mayor of San Diego
  • Becca Heller, Executive Director and Co-Founder of International Refugee Assistance Project 
  • Mark Hetfield, President and CEO of HIAS
  • Roberta Jacobson, Former United States Ambassador to Mexico, and Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs
  • Brett Jenks, President and CEO of Rare
  • Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs)
  • Walter Kaelin, Chair of Platform on Disaster Displacement; Former Representative of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons
  • Claudia López Hernández, Mayor of Bogotá
  • Marta Lucia Ramirez, Vice President of Colombia (2018-2022)
  • Jane McAdam AO, Scientia Professor of Law and Director of the Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW
  • David Miliband, President & CEO of International Rescue Committee, Former Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom
  • Michael Morell, Deputy CIA Director, United States (2010-2013)
  • Cecilia Muñoz, Former Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, United States
  • Janet Napolitano, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security (2009-2013)
  • Michelle Nunn, President and CEO of CARE
  • Leon E. Panetta, U.S. Secretary of Defense (2011-2013)
  • Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2008-2014)
  • Laurene Powell Jobs, Founder and President of Emerson Collective
  • Jaime Pumarejo Heins, Mayor of Barranquilla
  • Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, UK
  • Dan Restrepo, Senior Fellow at Center for American Progress; Special Assistant to President Obama for Western Hemisphere Affairs (2009-2012)
  • Arturo Rodriguez, United Farm Workers President Emeritus
  • Teresa Romero, President of the United Farm Workers
  • Erin Sikorsky, Director, Center for Climate and Security and International Military Council on Climate and Security
  • Gaia Vince, Author and Journalist 
  • Mark Watts, Executive Director of C40 Cities
  • Vittoria Zanuso, Executive Director of the Mayors Migration Council

You can learn more at ClimateMigrationCouncil.org. 

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