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Cities at the Intersection: Climate, Culture, and Migration

RESEARCH Report by Florita Gunasekara , Maitreyi Koduganti Venkata , and Chandni Singh
Reuters

Local leadership plays a critical role in responding to climate threats and addressing the challenges associated with migration, the report's authors find.

Climate change and migration are intersecting realities for millions of people living in cities across the world. This report examines the role of local leadership, policy exchange, and city networks in responding to climate-mediated migration, as well as explores the critical need for a strong understanding of cultural values of people and places as a prerequisite to meaningful policy solutions.  
 
Building from four case studies of cities and towns in the Global South and North, this report offers insight into ongoing city-level actions at the fulcrum of climate change and migration. In particular, the authors add a cultural dimension to the analysis of urban policy solutions for climate-related migration. The report intends to inform a wide array of urban stakeholders and policymakers by drawing from leading scientific and cultural analysis, including the recent findings from the 6th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).
 
This report was coauthored by the Council and the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, and prepared for the Global Parliament of Mayors and the British Council.  

About the Authors
Florita Gunasekara
Former Assistant Director, Global Cities
Florita Gunasekara
Florita Gunasekara served as the assistant director of the Center on Global Cities. She is a practitioner in the fields of climate migration, disaster risk reduction, and urban policy. 
Florita Gunasekara
Researcher, Indian Institute for Human Settlements
Maitreyi Koduganti Venkata
Maitreyi Koduganti works across the themes of urban water governance, vulnerability assessment, process documentation and research-into-use, where she engages in working at the ground level along with local communities to bring about small, yet meaningful changes.
Maitreyi Koduganti Venkata
Senior Researcher, Indian Institute for Human Settlements
Chandni Singh works at the intersection of climate change adaptation and sustainable development in the Global South and is lead author on the IPCC Assessment Report 6 on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability and a contributing author on the IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C.