Governments around the world are engaged in a series of talks that could fundamentally alter how the movement of people across borders is managed. One dialogue is focused on the protection of refugees; the other on migration.

At last count, there were some 258 million migrants worldwide, with 22.5 million people registered as refugees by the U.N. Refugee Agency.

According to the International Organization for Migration, climate change could displace as many as 1 billion people by 2050 . And yet no international treaty covers climate-induced migration – a gap that must be addressed now.

If water shortages persist, migration is certain to follow.

The test of world leaders will be whether the global compacts on refugees and migrants can achieve this.

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