STAKEHOLDER EXPERT PANEL KICKOFF MEETING

Istanbul Ozyegin University- Türkiye

The STAKEHOLDER EXPERT PANEL (SEP) meeting was held on May 24, 2024, at Özyeğin University Çekmeköy Campus in Istanbul. The meeting brought together over twenty civil society experts and academics in a hybrid format.

The first session commenced with opening remarks from Özyeğin University's Vice Rector, Prof. Dr. Tanju Erdem, and the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Prof. Dr. Canan Sümer. Their speeches emphasized sustainability and multiple crises, focusing on the impacts of environmental and climate change on migration patterns. Assoc. Prof. Susan Beth Rottman, the project coordinator, presented an overview of the project, its vision, and scope.

In the second session, representatives from national and international NGOs operating in Türkiye delivered presentations highlighting their areas of work and areas of collaboration with the Phoenix Project. Organizations such as IOM, AFAD, FAO, Doğa Derneği, IstanPol, as well as academics from Özyeğin University and Istanbul Bilgi University, shared their perspectives on environmental and climate change issues.

Key agenda topics of the meeting included enhancing mechanisms to mitigate the effects of climate change, activating/planning climate disaster risk reduction mechanisms, diversifying agricultural investments, and prioritizing sustainable agriculture. Participants discussed both short-term and long-term impacts of climate change, including slow and sudden environmental hazards, and their consequences on human mobility.

There was consensus among participants to approach climate migration from an evidence-based, causality-establishing standpoint, focusing on documenting climate migration and outlining the conceptual framework of climate refugees.

The meeting concluded with agreements to enhance long-term collaborations among IOM, FAO, IstanPol, Doga Dernegi, Ozyegin University Sustainability Platform, and academics working in the field. It was decided to utilize tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for establishing scientific cause-effect relationships between climate change and human mobility, creating a shared data repository, and improving existing legal frameworks related to human mobility through policy documents aimed at policymakers.