IGAD Experts to Forge Strong, Unified Climate-Mobility Position Ahead of COP30

Addis Ababa, October 28, 2025 (ENA) – The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) launched a crucial Regional Meeting for Climate Experts on Monday in Addis Ababa, gathering officials from across Member States to synchronize policy and craft a robust, unified stance on climate-induced mobility, resilience, and adaptation ahead of the global COP30 summit.

The meeting is designed to move beyond theoretical discussions and develop concrete, evidence-based regional strategies to tackle the devastating, interconnected challenges of climate change, displacement, and conflict in the Horn of Africa.

In his opening statement, Nigusu Lema, Deputy Director General of the Ethiopian Environmental Authority, underscored the gravity of the crisis and emphasized the need for regional solidarity.

“The IGAD region... is increasingly confronted by the devastating impacts of climate change,” Nigusu stated.

He highlighted how rising temperatures, recurring droughts, floods, and shifting rainfall patterns are not only eroding livelihoods but also driving displacement on an “unprecedented scale.”

The Deputy Director General positioned the three-day meeting as a critical platform to “facilitate high-level policy exchange” and strengthen cooperation, explicitly focusing on aligning Member States' climate policies and negotiation priorities.“

As member states, we must align our climate policy and negotiation priorities to ensure a strong, unified African voice that reflects the realities of our people and ecosystems,” he asserted, concluding with a call for science-driven, inclusive, and regionally coordinated action to integrate mobility considerations into national adaptation plans.

Victoria Anib, Head of Social Development at the IGAD Secretariat, said the region is grappling with a complex nexus of challenges, where climate variability fuels disasters, human mobility, and even exacerbates conflict and health crises.

She cited recent examples from Sudan where individuals displaced by conflict were then struck by devastating floods, leading to outbreaks of cholera and the re-emergence of vaccine-preventable diseases like polio.

“It is not just numbers, it’s impacting our lives of pastoralists, life of farmers, life of women and children, vulnerable groups,” Anib remarked, stressing that the meeting must provide a policy dialogue to develop evidence-based answers.

She noted the timeliness of the meeting as delegates prepare for two major global events: COP30 and the upcoming Global Refugee Forum (GRF) in December.

The gathering will review current data, identify research gaps, and recommend pathways for integrating findings into national and regional frameworks.

Noora K. Mäkelä, Program Officer for the Climate Action Division (CAD) at the IOM Regional Office reinforced the importance of the regional commitment, particularly through the Kampala Ministerial Declaration on Migration, Environment and Climate Change (KDMECC).

She strongly stressed that human mobility, while often a consequence of crisis, “can also become pathways of resilience when they are planned and well managed.”She noted that the KDMECC, a landmark commitment now signed by 48 African countries, is already inspiring national action plans and concrete policy work in IGAD member states like Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia.“

We really must ensure that the issue of mobility is not sidelined but placed at the heart of the global climate negotiations,” she urged, calling for integration of mobility into National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), the Global Goal on Adaptation, and the Loss and Damage work program.

The three-day meeting will convene experts in Climate Change, Disaster Risk Management, Environment, and Migration Commissions to formulate the consolidated IGAD position statement for the upcoming COP30, cementing the region’s commitment to turning climate challenges into opportunities for resilience and sustainable development.