Blue Diplomacy and water cooperation – solutions to relieve the pressure of climate induced migration

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Background

All over the world, there are multiple threats of water shortage and desertification and at the same time extreme events like floods and natural disasters. Meanwhile, water stress is causing extreme pressure in other regions, which face declining rainfall levels, raising major concerns about the resilience of European societies. Those extreme climate phenomena force millions of people, mainly depending on agriculture for the livelihoods to leave their home areas in search of water, food, and means to survive.

In this opinion, the EESC emphasizes the need to strengthen legal protection for climate migrants by extending the Temporary Protection Directive to those fleeing climate-related disasters and calls for closer integration of environmental and migration policies within the EU. It advocates for enhanced cooperation with partner countries to support climate resilience, encourages dialogue among legal and migration professionals to address evolving interpretations of climate-induced migration, and highlights the necessity for improved data collection.

Key points

In the opinion the EESC:

  • recommends adopting one definition at EU level for climate-induced migration;
  • calls on the European Commission to develop a compendium of relevant case law and highlights the need to encourage the use of the Practical Toolkit on International Protection for people displaced across borders in the context of climate change and disasters;
  • calls for efforts to encourage the creation of synergies between the EU’s environmental and migration policy by integrating the Humanitarian Development-Peace nexus further into climate mobility policy and embedding migration as adaptation in its approach to climate mobility;
  • recommends encouraging and funding further research of projects, recognising the complexity and multi-faceted aspect of migration, and to investigate the possibility of amending data collection protocols for people entering countries of destination;
  • calls on the European Commission to further shape its cooperation with partner countries, to facilitate access to international funds to support partner countries in climate resilience and preparedness, and to pursue the commitments made.

Additional Information

EESC section: External Relations (REX)

Opinion number: REX/597-EESC-2025

Opinion type: Own-initiative opinion

Rapporteur: Milena Angelova (Employers -GR I/Bulgaria), co-rapporteur: Ioannis Vardakastanis (Civil Society Organisations-GRIII/Greece)

Date of adoption by the section: 9 July 2025

Date of adoption in plenary: 17-18 September 2025

Result of the vote in plenary: 129 in favour/ 0 against/2 abstentions

Contact

Millie Tsoumani
Press Officer, Email: amalia.tsoumani@eesc.europa.eu

Marie-Laurence Drillon
Policy Officer, Email: Marie-Laurence.Drillon@eesc.europa.eu 

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