WHO WE ARE
An innovative initiative to map, understand and address human mobility in the context of climate change and disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean
© IFRC
At the Observatory we want to fill two important gaps. On the one hand, it is urgent to generate scientifically supported evidence and data to visualize, qualify, quantify and monitor human mobility dynamics triggered by climate change and environmental degradation (displacement, migration and planned relocation) with the goal of informing public policy and regulations. On the other, it is also urgent to place the needs and rights of affected groups and communities at the center of building public norms and policies and the protection of human rights.
© IFRC
OUR MISSION
The Observatory’s focus is on persons who move in Latin America and the Caribbean owing to climate change, disasters, and environmental degradation: those who migrate, those who are forcibly displaced, and those who need to be relocated out of harm’s way. Through research and capacity-building, the Observatory will bring together different actors to produce and facilitate dissemination of data and knowledge, report progress achieved and new challenges at the regional level and contribute to ongoing initiatives, to raise awareness of the on-the-ground reality of human mobility linked to climate change and environmental degradation, and the impacts of movements on individuals and communities. It will support, through data and knowledge, policies and durable solutions that are well informed and documented, well designed and targeted, with a rights-based approach and inspired by climate justice. Its work will contribute to recognize, protect, and assist people on the move and those at risk of forcible displacement in Latin America and the Caribbean.
OUR VISION
To consolidate the Observatory as an open, accessible and collaborative regional thematic platform, created by and for Latin America and the Caribbean.
VALUES AND PRINCIPLES
The Observatory is resolutely committed to the following:
- The principles and core values embodied in the Charter of the United Nations.
- Carrying out our work with the highest academic, ethical, and professional standards, in keeping with the academic and non-political nature of our work.
- Our accountability towards those who participate in surveys and interviews and other activities of the Observatory, including the duty to provide feedback on the final outcomes and recommendations of our research.
- The obligation to display in all activities a resolute rights-based, as well as age-, gender- and diversity-sensitive approaches.
- Zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) and actively working towards proactively preventing, protecting from, and responding to SEA.
- Zero tolerance of mobbing and other intolerable and illegal interpersonal practices, which are banned as being harmful in the workplace.
Objectives we want to achieve
To collect, analyze, update and disseminate data and information
To map ongoing regional initiatives, projects, and research
To develop tools, in an open and collaborative manner, to share and exchange information with various stakeholders (civil society actors, academia, governments, journalists, activists, etc.)
Promote cooperation on the topic of human mobility, bringing the most relevant actors together to produce and analyze data
Improve scientific research to support decision-making
TIMELINE
FOUNDERS
University for Peace - UPEACE
UPEACE is part of the academic wing of the United Nations, with a mandate granted in 1980 by the United Nations General Assembly. Based in Costa Rica, it also has centers in Addis Ababa, The Hague, Manila and New York. In addition, it houses the Earth Charter Center for Education for Sustainable Development in its San José campus.
According to its Constitution, UPEACE is called upon to "contribute to the great universal task of educating for peace by engaging in teaching, research and the dissemination of knowledge fundamental to the full development of the human person and societies through the interdisciplinary study of all matters relating to peace" (UPEACE Charter, 1980, article 2).
Its main task is to train generations of future leaders for sustainable development, peace building and the promotion of human rights, all through the promotion of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Likewise, UPEACE encourages efforts to reconcile poverty alleviation with environmental protection, and, through the Observatory, seeks to generate more and better knowledge in regard to the growing impact of climate change and disasters, combined with other important contributing factors, on human mobility.
It currently offers Master's programmes in the following topics, among others: International Peace Studies; Responsible Management and Sustainable Economic Development; Environment, Development and Peace, with specializations, for example, in Environmental Security and Governance. It also offers PhD programmes in Sustainable Development and Peace and Conflict Studies, among others.
The Observatory aims to increase awareness on human mobility among States and a variety of actors in the region; spur a collective effort to collect, produce and share information on human mobility issues and trends; and transform scientific and technical knowledge into practical information for use by relevant and interested actors.
South American Network for Environmental Migrations - RESAMA
Founded in 2010, RESAMA is an independent network of researchers whose mission is to work for the visibility, recognition and protection of people and communities at risk and on the move, in the context of climate change and disasters with a human rights approach.
Its work focuses in three broad areas: research, political advocacy, and collective capacity building. With a comprehensive view of environmental migration, it works to promote connections between different actors and the interrelated thematic areas of migration, humanitarian aid, environment and climate, sustainable development, and human rights, all from a decidedly regional perspective.
OUR TEAM
Joining forces to make progress in the region
Professor at the Department of International Law at UPEACE. He joined UPEACE after a career spanning over 30 years with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He is also an international consultant for the United Nations. Professor Riera-Cézanne is an expert in multilateral consultations and negotiations concerning populations of concern to UNHCR, as well as humanitarian affairs. He is a graduate of Yale College (Bachelor of Arts cum laude, SY 1977), Columbia Law School (Juris Doctor, 1981), the Parker School of International Law (Certificate in Public International Law, 1981), and completed studies at the Hague Academy of International Law (private international law and public international law). He also pursued doctoral studies at the Graduate Institute in Geneva (L’Institut de Hautes Études Internationales), Switzerland. He is keenly interested in international migration and the impact of climate change on human mobility, is one of the architects of the Nansen Initiative, and founder of the Latin American Observatory on Human Mobility, Climate Change and Disasters at UPEACE. He directs the Observatory.
Director of the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at UPEACE. She is a specialist in conflict transformation and peacebuilding, focusing on conflict, gender, identity, and human mobility. She holds a PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from the Jimmy and Rosslyn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University in Virginia (USA). To obtain this degree, she conducted extensive research on forced displacement, conflict, and the social integration of refugees in the Colombia-Ecuador border areas and in Ecuador's urban centres. She is deeply committed to achieving positive social change through nonviolent means and to strengthening social actors, including grassroots organizations, indigenous communities, and minority groups, through her research and practice. Adriana has taught courses on conflict analysis, collaborative peacebuilding methodologies, mediation, identity conflicts, gender, and human mobility at the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University in Washington, D.C., Boston University and the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar in Quito, Ecuador.
She holds a PhD in Environmental Law from the University of Alicante, Spain, with the distinction of "European Doctorate" (cum laude). She did a Post-doctorate at the University of Limoges, France. Fernanda is a postdoctoral researcher at the Graduate Program in Law of the Federal University of Santa Catarina - UFSC, Brazil. Researcher at the South American Network for Environmental Migrations (RESAMA) and the Latin American Observatory on Human Mobility, Climate Change and Disasters (MOVE-LAM). Member of the International Center for Comparative Environmental Law (CIDCE), France. Member of the Association of Environmental Law Professors of Brazil (APRODAB). She has research experience in disaster and climate law, human mobility and the environment, environmental human rights, and ecological law.
Lawyer from Chile who obtained her law degree in 2010 from the Universidad del Desarrollo in Santiago, Chile. During her legal practice in Chile, Paulina focused on family law, and has since lived in Thailand, Kenya, Panama, and Costa Rica, where she deepened her knowledge of legal and policy issues in an international setting. In 2019 and 2020 she worked as a Legal Officer with the Chilean Embassy in Kenya. The Embassy is accredited to the United Nations Office in Kenya, and specifically to UNEP and UN-Habitat, such that beyond handling contractual and diplomatic issues, Paulina also drafted human rights reports on Kenya and supported the Embassy doing targeted research on climate change and women’s empowerment issues. Paulina has further worked as a language teacher in Thailand, including on Legal Spanish and as a tutor on international cooperation. Most recently, and during the most intense period of the COVID-19 pandemic, she successfully guided her family, including her 6 year-old daughter, through two years of close-to-complete school lockdown in Panama. Paulina is fluent in English, Spanish and has intermediate-level German.
Head of the Department of Environment and Development and Associate Professor at the University for Peace. She teaches in the UPEACE online programme, the Spanish and English Master’s programmes, and the Doctoral Programme. Olivia is also an adjunct professor at Long Island University and Oregon State University. Over the last decade, Olivia’s research programme has focused on food security, climate justice, and gender. She also works with Indigenous people, women, small-holder farmers, and youth on these topics.
Co-founder of and researcher in CICrA Justicia Ambiental, an organization pursuing environmental justice through legal and research activities. She is also currently the technical lead of the Catalan Committee of Experts on Climate Change. She has nearly ten years of experience in disasters and climate-change induced migration. She holds a PhD in Law (Universitat Rovira i Virgili, URV), a Master’s Degree in Environmental Law (URV) and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science (Universidad de Granada). Moreover, she received the Josep Miquel Prats award for the best Environmental Law Thesis in 2017. Beatriz is a Research Associate at the Tarragona Centre for Environmental Law Studies (CEDAT), Rovira i Virgili University (URV-Tarragona, Spain) and member of Migraciones Climáticas. She is the author of the books “Las migraciones climáticas ante el ordenamiento jurídico internacional” (Aranzadi, 2019) and “Migraciones climáticas. Sobre desigualdades, mitos y desprotección” (Mra Ediciones, 2022). She has published several research papers, book chapters and reports addressing this topic. Beatriz has participated in numerous academic events disseminating her main findings and has collaborated in relevant international projects together with different international and civil society organizations (UNHCR, RESAMA, IOM, Greenpeace Spain, CEAR, CCAR, ESF, etc.)
Postdoctoral fellow at the German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) with a grant from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH). D. in Socio-Environmental Law and Sustainability from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná (PUCPR, Brazil), with studies at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law - Pace University (Fulbright Commission Program, USA) and at the United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS, Germany). Master’s in Economic and Socio-environmental Law (PUCPR) and a postgraduate degree in Environmental Law from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR, Brazil). Specialist in International Environmental Law by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). Research Member of the World Commission on Environmental Law of the Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and of the South American Network for Environmental Migrations (RESAMA).
Public Lawyer and researcher. PhD in International Law from the University of São Paulo. Founder of the South American Network for Environmental Migrations (RESAMA). Founder and senior researcher of the Latin American Observatory on Human Mobility, Climate Change and Disasters (MOVE-LAM). Guest professor at the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) in the Higher Diploma in Climate Change: ethical challenges for public policies. She collaborates with research groups of universities in different regions of Brazil on the following topics: environmental displacement (NEPDA/UEPB); community protocols for free, prior and informed consultation (UFGD); human rights and vulnerabilities (UniSantos); law and decolonization (USJT). She has more than 15 years of experience devoted to human mobility in the context of climate change and disasters.
Lawyer graduated from the University of Buenos Aires. Master’s in Migration and Mobility Studies (University of Bristol). Diploma in Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (American University) and in Migrant and Refugee Protection (UBA). Former Chevening Fellow (2019-2020). He works as a lawyer at the Migrant Commission of the National Public Defender's Office and as a researcher at the South American Network for Environmental Migrations (RESAMA). He teaches International Refugee Law (UBA). Consultant and is the author of several opinion pieces and research articles on human mobility.
PhD in International Law from Kanagawa University (Japan). Collaborating professor in the postgraduate programme in Japanese Language, Literature and Culture at the University of São Paulo (USP). She has research experience in human rights, environmental migration, international criminal law, law and literature, and law of the sea. She was a researcher at the Maritime Policy Research Institute in Tokyo, United Nations University in Tokyo, and a visiting researcher at the University of Oslo. Co-author of the book "Atoll Island States and International Law - Climate change displacement and sovereignty". Researcher of the South American Network of Environmental Migrations (RESAMA).
Lawyer from the Universidad Nacional del Altiplano (Peru) and PhD in Environmental Science from the University of São Paulo (Brazil). With research experience on issues relating to risk, the Precautionary Principle, water resources, socio-environmental conflicts, political ecology, environmental justice, and migration. Her research thesis was recognized as the best PhD thesis in 2019 by the National Association of Postgraduate and Research in Environment and Society (ANPPAS) of Brazil. Member of the South American Network for Environmental Migrations (RESAMA). Coordinator of the Project for the Promotion of Migrants' Rights (PROMIGRA) of the Law School of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. Member of the Editorial Executive Secretariat of the scientific journal Ambiente & Sociedade.