Asian Development Bank mulls new financing for climate-induced migration

Cai U. Ordinario in the Business Mirror (Philippines): In order to address the growing need to provide not only the infrastructure necessary to mitigate and adapt to climate change, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will be studying the possibility of creating a financial facility that will address climate change-induced migration among its developing member-countries (DMCs).

The ADB admitted that while there are several financial mechanisms for climate-change adaptation, these are limited and insufficient to address the uncertainties of displacement caused by climate change.

Through a $700,000 worth technical assistance, whose executing agency will be the Manila-based multilateral financing institution, the ADB will undertake studies to improve DMCs’ understanding of climate-induced migration in selected DMCs and subregions.

“Current financial mechanisms for climate-change adaptation are limited, however, and are not sufficient to address the growing need to cope with the uncertainties of displacement. Moreover, large-scale migration is not taken into account in most national adaptation strategies. In the event of a climate-induced migration, a sizable financing facility will be required,” the ADB said in a project document titled “Policy Options to Support Climate-Induce Migration.”

Under the technical assistance, a comprehensive feasibility study will be conducted for the expansion of existing funding facilities, including the Adaptation Fund of the Kyoto Protocol and the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund, as well as the establishment and maintenance of a new funding facility.

This will be done through a review of the current initiatives and the proposed areas of collaboration, synergy and expansion. A review of other financing modalities, such as risk insurance, adaptation funds and use of remittances as a source of development funds, will also be undertaken…..

Asian Development Bank headquarters in Manila, shot by Eugene Alvin Villar (seav), Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license