Workshop on climate induced migration in Pakistan

Islamabad:The females forced to migrate (internal displacement) due to climate change face several issues ranging from a lack of access to health and education, insufficient availability of food and evacuation to bonded labour, said Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) Executive Director Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri.

He was addressing participants of a workshop on ‘Climate induced migration in Pakistan,’ organised here by Sustainable Development Policy Institute. The purpose of the workshop was to create awareness among journalists reporting on climate change. A group of journalists based in Islamabad attended the workshop.

He said that provision of safe shelters, medicines, food and water during disasters should be the top priority of the government with particular reference to vulnerable migrant women. Earlier, Maryam Shabbir Abbasi from SDPI stressed the need for a gender-responsive policy for climate induced female migration. She further said that women face issues of harassment and rape during disasters which should be controlled by taking measures at a higher level. She also highlighted the plight of pregnant women during the disaster and trauma they go through due to lack of access to healthcare services.

The participants of the workshop raised several issues regarding the topic and presented a way forward based on the research recently conducted by SDPI in collaboration with Climate Action Network South Asia as part of the South Asia Migration and Climate (SAMAC) project.