Catherine Conlon: Is building walls the answer to rising migration in Europe?

What is missing from the discussion on migrants is the role that climate change is playing and will continue to play in the migration of people from countries where being able to survive is being rendered increasingly challenging

Hundreds of migrants on a fishing boat docked at the port of Palaiochora in southeastern Crete, Greece, after its arrival in November 2022. Picture: InTime News via AP

At the end of a recent official visit to Senegal in West Africa, President Michael D Higgins questioned whether current climate change agreements are enough and queried the robustness of multilateral institutions to make real progress.

The president’s comments came two months after Cop27, when climate talks ended with a ‘historic’ deal that hailed a potential turning point in the acknowledgement of the vast inequities enmeshed in the climate crisis. Agreement was reached on a global fund for ‘loss and damage’, providing financial assistance to poor nations stricken by climate disaster.