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Excellencies,

It is an honour to be here and part of this important conversation.

The last 3 months have been the warmest on record by a large margin and the number and severity of climate-related disasters have risen sharply.

This only means more displacement for already vulnerable communities.

Having to leave the place you call home due to climate-induced reasons is heartbreaking and impoverishing for many. Climate mobility is the combined failure of mitigation and adaptation and the most evident form of loss and damage as it translates into loss of property and livelihoods, culture and identity.

And as we have heard from the leaders here - countries must urgently plan, and act on climate mobility.

This should first and foremost focus on the displaced and host communities, and giving people agency in decisions about their future.

It means working together to manage risks, protect people and build human, economic and environmental resilience, sustain peace, preserve social cohesion and address loss and damage.

In short, it means climate mobility action is part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

These are issues that UNOPS is focused on - through our implementation role and expertise in infrastructure, procurement and project management.

We are proud to have offered operational support to the Global Center for Climate Mobility, since 2021, owing to a contribution from Germany.

We truly believe in the key role that data plays in supporting decision making and action on climate mobility. To optimize investments, adaptation action needs to be based on evidence, including in assessing gaps and losses and damages.

To adapt to climate impacts, countries need resilient infrastructures, an area of core expertise for UNOPS. In Saint Lucia, UNOPS and the University of Oxford worked together with the government to develop an approach to national infrastructure planning that is based on data and evidence, and that factors in both national and international development priorities.

In Kiribati, we are assisting in coastal protection to strengthen human security and reduce mobility.

And in Zimbabwe, we implemented a unique partnership between the World Bank and the UN - including IOM - that addressed the early and medium-term resilient disaster recovery needs of communities affected by Cyclone Idai.

Throughout all these examples - our work aims to strengthen resilience in communities against increasingly frequent shocks and stresses, and help build back better when disaster hits.

Excellencies, UNOPS stands ready to support our partners in planning, and addressing opportunities and challenges related to climate mobility, so that we can deliver better for communities around the world.