UNESCO to release film in observance of Earth Day

In observance of Earth Day 2015, UNESCO will release its new film Changing Climate, Moving People made by The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI).

Changing Climate, Moving People is a 35-minute film, which looks at disaster or climate stress related migration from three different regions in the country - Uttarakhand, Bundelkhand and Odisha. The film is divided in three parts: each part is looking at a specific region and is investigating the nature of migration from this region.

The film's objective is to increase awareness, engagement and advocacy on the intertwined and complex linkages between moving people and changing climate, and to support the mainstreaming of migration into climate change policies. This has been built on from the policy recommendations of the National Workshop on Migration and Global Environmental Change in India jointly organized by UNESCO and the Government Office for Science, Foresight (GOS), United Kingdom, in Delhi last year.

"People do migrate and will continue to do so in the future. It is primarily the government's responsibility to plan for current and future migration and to take into account the impact of climate change on population mobility in India," said Shigeru Aoyagi, UNESCO Director and Representative for Bhutan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

The approach of Changing Climate, Moving People is not limited to understanding migration as a demographic process which may be induced by climate change. The film seeks to show how climate change is and will contribute to the multi-causal nature of migration and establish the triggers behind migrants' choice to migrate or not to migrate while living in areas affected by environmental change.

How do households, communities and individuals decide to migrate? What is the threshold or the build-up of push and pull factors that lead to the decision of migrating? To answer these questions, Changing Climate, Moving People follows the stories of the migrants and their families to establish the triggers behind their choice to migrate.