At Africa Climate Week 2022 held in Gabon from 29 August to 2 September, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), RCC Kampala and RCC Lomé co-organized an event on human mobility and green development. 

The event at ACW 2022 aimed to enhance dialogue and action among stakeholders addressing the challenges and opportunities raising from climate change related migration and regional green economy transition. 

For Sub-Saharan Africa to have a just transition, the groups most affected by climate change must participate in the economic activities created by green economy transition. Without inclusive solutions, the most vulnerable may be left even further behind.

The importance of inclusivity in the planning the green economy transition was in focus, as was the role of partnerships and the huge potential the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can play in climate action. The conversation echoed one key issue that has been voiced by studies and stakeholder consultations – difficulty for SMEs to access finance for climate action. The issue becomes increasingly pertinent in contrast with the fact that 80% of Sub-Saharan African economy and employment is provided by SMEs. 

The event brought together panelists from different organizations that work on this issue. Dr. Olufunso Somorin of Africa Development Bank represented the supply side of finances, Dr. Mao Amis of the African Center for Green Economy represented the entrepreneurial side of climate action, and Hind Aïssaoui Bennani of IOM brought climate change and migration realities to the discussion. The event was moderated by Jyri Jantti of RCC Kampala. 

Solutions in Focus

The Special Envoy for Migration and Climate Change to the Director General of the IOM, Ambassador Caroline Dumas, opened the session by emphasizing the prevalence of migrant workers in Sub-Saharan Africa and the importance of scaling locally led solutions. Many solutions are already in place and can improve sustainable livelihoods while enabling action on climate change. the opening remarks included a call to move from international discussions to funding for action at all levels. 

This was followed by a summary of integration of human mobility to climate change, development and green economy policies in the East Africa Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region. Presenter Noora Makela from IOM highlighted the key takeaways: 

• The IGAD region has growing recognition of human mobility in green economy-related policies, but it is insufficient in the face of climate and mobility trends. 
• Policy coherence needs to be strengthened as well as synergies with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and National Adaptation Plan (NAP) processes for more actionable green economy policies. This requires awareness, knowledge and data on green economy development. 
• Green economy development requires investment and innovative technologies, as well as capacity and skills development, budgeting and resource mobilization. 
• Green jobs and entrepreneurship can support the green economy with opportunities to develop productive enterprises and diaspora engagement. 
• Viable alternatives are needed for technical and financial diaspora support with entrepreneurial and business experience in the green economy sectors. 
• Recognition of potential for sustainable livelihoods and the green economy to alleviate economic pressure that often triggers or drives human mobility. 

The panel discussed lack of finance available to small scale actors. Many current loans available under climate finance are in the millions of dollars scale, making it difficult for SMEs looking for smaller sums to climate-proof their business models. There is a need to aggregate businesses together and strengthen intermediary institutions. Institutions that can distribute large sums from international finance into smaller chunks, or ticket sizes, are key for the climate finances to flow also to SMEs. This needs to be done in a sustainable way, as 72% of Sub-Saharan Africa SMEs do not survive longer than five years.

The poor survival rate of SMEs highlights the need for development agencies and intermediary institutions to ensure that skills development covers scaling climate action solutions with business skills such as management and projections. These transferrable skills can improve the survival rate of the SMEs and ensure that solutions can be sustainable, investor-ready and scalable.

The Path Forward

Panelists identified the need for clear roles and better communication between actors at different levels of business development in the green economy. When green economy  actors collaborate, they have better capacity to direct growing SMEs contributions towards the next growth phase. Improving SME survival rate requires support all along the SME growth journey, including support to sustain operations when growth is achieved.

The audience also brought into the discussion the importance of considering insecurity and the importance of taking security into account. Where climate vulnerability overlaps with instability and conflict, community capacity to adapt to climate change is negatively impacted. A conflict sensitive approach can strengthen and sustain intervention, and a climate friendly approach can mitigate the risk of conflict.

Key takeaways from the session include:

• Actors supporting green economy transition need to be well engaged and actions coordinated to create an enabling environment.
• Green economy related policies can provide a framework to combine aspects of environment and human mobility.
• Green investments in viable sectors can improve productivity and profitability through the adoption of climate smart solutions and sustainable models. 
• Green economy investments can create new jobs, thus reducing drivers for forced or irregular mobility, and support adaptation to climate change.
• Climate finance must be available to SMEs to ensure impact, with large loans divided to smaller sums for SMEs or sustainable livelihood practitioners. 
• SMEs contributing to climate action solutions need support for business-related skills to become sustainable, investable and scalable.
• Diaspora can support climate action when investment opportunities are available.
• Migrants form a large part of Sub-Saharan workforce and can contribute to the green economy transition, disseminating knowledge and developing solutions. 

With this year’s COP27 in Egypt, issues such as SMEs and human mobility may again come into sharp focus. As implementation of the Paris Agreement accelerates, steps should be taken to ensure SMEs have support and green economy policy must consider mobility for African communities to thrive.