IFSW plays key role in UN NGO meeting on the social impact of climate change
UN
The 60th Annual Conference for Non-Governmental Organizations based at the United Nations met last week for a 3 day global briefing on climate change and how it impacts us all. IFSW made a major contribution by facilitating a workshop on the effects of climate change on migrants (follow the link below to a report of the workshop).

'IFSW welcomes this important declaration about the impact of climate changes and especially its social consequences', said David N Jones, IFSW President after the meeting. 'Social workers are in daily contact with local communities and already see the consequences of climate change, not only in the catastrophic effects of major disasters but also in the slow effects of crop changes and economic pressures. IFSW joins the call for urgent action — at national and personal levels — and especially for action to protect those most vulnerable to this crisis.'

The scientific evidence leaves no doubt about the tragic direction human activity is taking and the major social consequences which will affect the practice of social work. One compelling, world expert from Pakistan suggested that we consider ourselves citizens of "Earthland" because the response has to be global and cooperative, not confined to a few nation states. Time is running short before the Greenland ice sheet will completely melt and change the thermal conveyor belt of the Atlantic Ocean currents. As continents warm, he explained, cascading effects will thaw out the Alpine and Himalayas' glaciers, reducing radically the sources of fresh water for agriculture and humans in both Europe and throughout Asia. The result? Widespread starvation and death for those who have depended for millennia on these sources of life-giving water.

Conference participants, stunned and quiet as they listened to speakers, eventually adopted the attached declaration for action.

Conference declaration

IFSW workshop report on the effect of climate change on migration

‘CLIMATE CHANGE: HOW IT IMPACTS US ALL’ THEME, AS ANNUAL DPI/NGO CONFERENCE OPENS

CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ WATER SECURITY, LAND USE, AMONG ISSUES AS DPI/NGO CONFERENCE HOLDS SERIES OF ROU.

PRESS CONFERENCE ON 24 SEPTEMBER CLIMATE CHANGE EVENT

IFSW - International Policy Statement on Globalisation and the Environment

IFSW - International Policy on Migration

IFSW - International Policy on Indigenous Peoples

IFSW - International Policy Statement on Displaced Persons

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page last updated on 25.09.2007