Activities of Mónica Silvana GONZÁLEZ related to 2020/2042(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
The impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries (debate)
Reports (1)
REPORT on the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries
Amendments (32)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2
Citation 2
— having regard to the European Consensus on Development and the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular Goals 1, 5, 10, 11, 13 and 1316,
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 3
Citation 3
— having regard to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement of 2015, the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (WIM) of 2013 and the recommendations by its Task Force on Displacement welcomed by the Conference of the Parties at its 24th Session (COP24), the Global Compact for Migration of 2018, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction of 2015,;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the impacts of climate change include increases in thed frequency and gravity of storms, floods, landslides, extreme heat waves, droughts, forest fires and other disasters, as well as slow-onset developmentprocesses such as rising sea-levels rise, coastal erosion, salinisation, gradual changes in rainfall patterns, permafrost thawing, and the decline and displacement of animal and plant populations;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas poverty and inequality are both a cause and an effect of vulnerability and related displacement; whereas reducing poverty and inequality is therefore intrinsically linked with climate action and must more clearly guide the EU’s development policy, with support from other EU policies affecting developing countries, as stipulated by Article 208 of the TFEU;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas there are other environmental factors not directly linked to climate change, but linked to human- made environmental changes such as land degradation or marine and coastal ecosystem degradation, land and water grabbing, as well as environmental disasters and pollution caused by wars, which also act as risk-multipliers and migration drivers, notably in relation to vulnerable populations that are highly dependent on agriculture and local natural resources;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas the adverse effects of climate change will often reverse development progress, in particular when they lead to disasters and crises, and related displacement becomes protracted; whereas the basic principles of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development include leaving no one behind and addressing the needs of those furthest behind first; whereas a comprehensive strategy is needed for implementing this in the EU’s climate- related policies;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas women suffer disproportionately from the impacts of climate change, owing not least to the agricultural tasks they carry out but also to the discrimination they suffer in terms of access to land and services, particularly sexual and reproductive health services, participation in decision-making and respect when embarking on activities traditionally dominated by men; whereas women are also strongly over-represented among people displaced for reasons related to climate change80% of those who are displaced as a result of climate change are women and children who are more exposed to the negative effects of climate change and face greater difficulties related thereto, including a much higher risk of dying in natural disasters; whereas the situation for people who are internally displaced due to environmental reasons is worst for people in vulnerable situations including women, who are often exposed to violations of their basic rights as victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation; whereas women are usually at a higher risk of being located in unsafe, overcrowded shelters due to their lack of assets and greater vulnerability to poverty;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. stresses that women and girls are powerful agents of change in particular for climate action and calls for EU development programmes to promote the meaningful participation and empowerment of women and their organisations at all levels and at all stages of policy design, planning, financing, implementation monitoring and evaluation, as their inclusion is crucial to improve climate mitigation as well as resilience policy interventions and fair allocation of resources in order to tackle the obstacles that affect them disproportionately and to ensure long- term sustainable climate solutions; stresses in this regard the need to support capacity building and women’s role as educators and promoters of change and ensure adequate financing for these organisations;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas adaptation action should mainly focus on the most vulnerable and should include increasing the resilience of their dwellings, and the infrastructure they depend on, to extreme weather events, improving their food and water security, increasing their access to climate- responsive social protection and services, helping subsistence farmers to adapt their agricultural methods to changes in rainfall and temperature patterns, and helping poor people in increasingly uninhabitable areas to re-settle;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L a (new)
Recital L a (new)
La. whereas adverse effects of climate change are important drivers of displacement within countries and across borders interacting with and exacerbating factors such as poverty, marginalisation, weak governance, the absence of effective measures to reduce disaster risks and adapt to climate change, and in some situations conflict and its root causes;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L b (new)
Recital L b (new)
Lb. whereas already today an annual average of more than 20 million people are displaced by sudden-onset weather and climate-related events, while many others are forced or decide to move in the context of sea-level rise, droughts, perma- frost thawing and other slow-onset processes related to global warming;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
M. whereas, according to the World Bank, by 2050, without concrete climate and development action, over 143 million people in just three regions (Latin America, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa) could be forcedare likely to move within their own countries to escape the slow-onset impacts of climate change, unless effective measures are taken to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases; reduce disaster risks; adapt to climate change; strengthen the resilience as well as to reduce the vulnerability of people and communities at risk of displacement; and find durable solutions for people who are displaced;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M a (new)
Recital M a (new)
Ma. whereas it is increasingly recognised that preventing, addressing, and resolving displacement and migration related to climate change is primarily a development challenge; whereas local and regional governments in some developing countries have started to integrate management of displacement risks and the finding of durable solutions for displacement-affected communities as well as disaster risk reduction and climate action plans and adaptation strategies, while cooperating with their peers in initiatives such as the Covenant of Mayors;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M b (new)
Recital M b (new)
Mb. whereas the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) identifies climate change among the drivers that compel people to leave their country of origin and commits countries to enhance the availability and flexibility of pathways for regular migration including for displaced persons who cannot return to and adapt in countries of origin affected by adverse effects of climate change;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M c (new)
Recital M c (new)
Mc. whereas the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) acknowledges that external forced displacement may result from sudden-onset disasters and environmental degradation and recognises the need for guidance and support for measures assisting those displaced by disasters;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas the ruling by the UN Human Rights Committee in the case of Teitiota v New Zealand acknowledges a legal basis for refugee protection for those who face anthat persons whose lives are imminently threat to their life on account of climate changeened by adverse effects of climate change must not be deported back to their countries of origin;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 – introductory part
Paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. Calls on the Commission to prepare a comprehensive strategy for the EU’s contribution to limiting and mitigating the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries through:
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 – indent 2
Paragraph 2 – indent 2
- the reduction of general vulnerability through poverty and inequality reduction, putting in place resilient social protection systems, as well as addressing specific vulnerabilities to impacts of climate change resulting, for example, from the locations of dwellings and the bases of livelihoods, or specific vulnerabilities of different people, including women, children, older persons, people with disabilities, displaced people including refugees and internally displaced persons, stateless persons and migrants and communities at risk of becoming displaced,
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 – indent 3
Paragraph 2 – indent 3
- increased support for developing countries’ capacities to take such action with resources mobilised by themselves and, with the help of international climate financing, and other assistance,through provision of public technical assistance (public sector expertise) to partner countries’ national and subnational authorities;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 – indent 3 a (new)
Paragraph 2 – indent 3 a (new)
- increased support for community- based actions on disaster risk reduction and focus on early action to reduce risk and build resilience, in order to enable local communities to prevent and withstand climate shocks;
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 – indent 4
Paragraph 2 – indent 4
- affirming and seeking widespread, bind and obligating recognition that migrationhuman mobility is becoming ever more necessary as part of the response to the impacts of climate change, and proposing international arrangements for managing climate- induced migration, displacement and planned relocation, and increasing the protection of persons displaced within their countries in the context of climate change,
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 – indent 4 a (new)
Paragraph 2 – indent 4 a (new)
- increased support for developing countries’ capacities to manage climate- induced displacement risks including identification of communities at particular risk of being forced to flee their homes due to sudden- or slow-onset disasters; early warning systems; disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and resilience-building measures; and, as a measure of last resort, planned relocation;
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 – indent 5
Paragraph 2 – indent 5
- increasing capacities to rapidly respond to needs for humanitarian aid, as global heating will inevitably keep increasing such needs;e financial support to developing countries’ disaster preparedness and capacities to rapidly respond to growing and new humanitarian needs, since climate change impacts and current and future crises will inevitably keep increasing such needs and will pose challenges to humanitarian aid in terms of capacity, scale and geographical coverage of response
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for a specific budget line under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument for actions to limit and manage the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries; and contribute to the prevention and management of climate-induced displacement;
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Acknowledges that the humanitarian-development nexus approach offers a unique opportunity to develop prevention measures, enhance response capacity, support early recovery, build self-reliance and reduce risks at community level, to leave no one behind;
Amendment 215 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on the Commission and Member States in their relation and dialogues with third countries to support Governments and other stakeholders at national and sub-national levels to adopt finance laws, policies, standards and budgets that support adaptation measures to strengthen the resilience of systems (e.g. health system, education system, social protection etc.), communities and people
Amendment 229 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Reiterates its call for a commitment by the EU and its Member States to significantly increase the adaptation finance they provide and points once more to the need for progress on the issue of loss and damage, for which additional resources should be raisedscale up their support for adaptation finance and disaster risk management, and points once more to the need for progress on strengthening preparedness and resilience and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, especially in countries that are particularly vulnerable;
Amendment 234 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Reaffirms its commitments to the Sendai Framework and stresses the need for a new EU Action Plan after 2021 to be aligned with the Agenda 2030, to strengthen investments on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation at a local level where it is most needed;
Amendment 238 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls for climate-related EU gender funding to be scaled up and for urgent gender-based climate action focused on women to be established in the design and implementation of preparedness, mitigation and adaptation programmes; olicies and programmes in order to support women’s leadership and decision-making in all aspects of climate change; recognises that gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment are a catalyst for sustainable development and a prerequisite for the management of climate challenges; calls for the EU and its Member States to include gender analysis and budgeting in development cooperation policies and all instruments in order to advance gender-just climate action and support climate change adaptation and resilience in developing countries
Amendment 252 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls for a common and coordinated international response led by the EU aimed at making progress in the implementation of recognition, protection and support measures for people who are compelled to move within and between countries in the context of disasters and the adverse effects of climate change; encourages the Union to analyse and adopt new approaches, considering examples of regulation at regional level such as the Kampala Convention, and to promote the incorporation of, inter alia, the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement into the domestic laws of EU Member States and of third states through bilateral and regional agreementon the Commission and the Member States to recognise the specific needs and vulnerabilities of people who are compelled to move within and between countries in the context of disasters and the adverse effects of climate change, to enhance their protection, as well as strengthen efforts to achieve solutions ending their displacement, and in this regard, - encourages Member States to incorporate, among others, the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement into domestic law, and to develop regional instruments to protect internally displaced persons, drawing inspiration from the African Union Kampala Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa; and - calls on the Commission and the Member States to increase support to developing countries to achieve durable solutions for internally displaced persons, including pastoralists and other rural populations whose traditional livelihoods have been destroyed by the adverse impacts of climate change, and to find new livelihoods which are better adapted to a changing climate; - proposes to the Commission and the Member States that a climate passport be issued to persons coming from a country, or part of it, that will become uninhabitable due to climate change as a way to offer them protection from vulnerability and statelessness; - proposes to the Commission and the Member States that a climate change- induced livelihood destruction be explicitly recognised as an eligibility criterion for humanitarian protection; - invites the Commission and the Member States to put forward such proposals in international fora, in parallel to other EU initiatives;
Amendment 260 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Underlines the ruling of the UN Human Rights Committee of 20 January 2020 in the case of Teitiota v. New Zealand, which states that countries may not deport individuals facing climate- induced conditions that violate the right to life; calls on the Member States to consider the risk of violations of the right to life due to climate change as part of their return decisions, notably triggering non-refoulement obligations;
Amendment 261 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Calls on the EU and its Member States to develop and adopt, as part of the reform of the Union’s Migration and Asylum Policy, appropriate measures such as mobility schemes, skilling and reskilling, and preferential access for third-country workers coming from countries particularly affected by adverse impacts of climate change, including those working in the fossil fuel industry, extractive sectors and agriculture, as part of the European Green Deal, to enable them to contribute to the low-carbon transition across the global supply chain; the use of humanitarian visa and temporary protection for persons displaced by sudden-onset disasters; and long-term admission of persons coming from a country that is becoming or has become inhabitable due to climate change;