“People and communities who choose to stay must be safe, and those who choose to move must have the option to do so with dignity,” Ugochi Daniels, IOM Deputy Director General, said Thursday.
In 80 countries, IOM runs projects that put local communities in charge of solutions. Ms Daniels hopes COP30 will be “a turning point in placing human mobility as a key area of climate action”, especially in national adaptation plans and loss and damage financing.
‘Ten seconds that changed my life forever’
For Haiti’s Robert Montinard, this debate is personal. The 2010 earthquake lasted just 10 seconds, but it shattered lives for generations. Seeking safety, he fled to Brazil as a refugee. Today he runs the Mawon Association and helps others rebuild far from home.
At COP30, Robert insists on one thing: the voices of refugees must be heard.
“We want to be part of the solution. We want migrants and refugees to be heard. Those affected by the consequences of climate change (refugees, indigenous peoples, black communities, women) have the solutions,” he stated.
This week, Robert delivered a proposal to the First Lady of Brazil, Rosângela Janja da Silva, and the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva. It calls for municipal climate councils, actions against environmental racism and community brigades to respond to disasters.
He calls Haiti’s plight “climate injustice.” The same hurricanes that hit Florida, he said, leave destruction in his homeland, but as the United States rapidly rebuilds, buildings ruined by the 2010 Haiti earthquake remain rubble.
A crisis that fuels the conflict in Ethiopia
From another corner of the Global South, Makebib Tadesse sees the same pattern in Ethiopia, where climate pressures are intensifying conflicts over land and resources.
He described a “continuing cycle of violence and displacement” as food and water become scarce. In northern Ethiopia, where he was born, the impact of climate change now rivals – or even surpasses – the devastation of the 1974-1991 civil war.
“Climate change is driving people out of Ethiopia like we’ve never done before,” he said.
Both Robert and Makebib are part of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) delegation to COP30, along with Venezuelan indigenous leader Gardenia Warao.
‘Brazil’s opening to refugees should be celebrated’
Alfonso Herrera, Mexican actor and Goodwill Ambassador for Latin America for UNHCR, formally known as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, gives voice to his message.
“The voices of refugees have been silenced and must be heard,” he said. UN News.
Herrera has traveled throughout the region, from Mexico to Venezuela, Honduras and El Salvador, witnessing the human cost of climate displacement and the UN’s efforts to restore hope through education and legal support.
He believes Brazil’s openness to receiving refugees deserves recognition, especially “when so many other countries take a completely opposite attitude.”
As COP30 debates how to adapt to a changing planet, displaced people remind the world that climate action is not just about saving ecosystems: it is about protecting lives, preserving dignity and ensuring that the rising tide leaves no one behind.
UN News is reporting from Belémgiving you front-row coverage of everything happening at COP30.