A/67/299 84. Of course, debate continues regarding whether international protection for climate-change-induced migrants should take the form of a new multilateral agreement. The Special Rapporteur remains aware that the adoption and implementation of a universal treaty by a sufficient number of States may face great diplomatic hurdles, to say the least. In the absence of such a framework however, the Special Rapporteur believes that the above principles should assist States in developing specific local, national and regional responses, in the context of the human rights framework, and with the support of the international community. The Special Rapporteur believes that, in the absence of a specific legal framework, and given the multiple concurrent actors that would have an interest in the migration/ climate change nexus, specific and innovative regional cooperation agreements will constitute stepping stones for the international community to agree on a coordinated universal plan for action. 3. Role of civil society in conveying the voice of migrants 85. Civil society should not be left outside of global governance on climatechange-induced migration. Civil society organizations have played an important role in flagging the issue of climate-change-induced migration and will continue to play a key role at the stage of developing concrete actions and programmes. 86. Migratory strategies should, as far as possible, be decided locally by affected individuals and communities, with the support of their civil society organizations, and forced relocation or immobility should not be imposed arbitrarily. Central Governments can play a pivotal role by bringing together local actors and promoting consensus and by arbitrating between different local interests. 87. The Special Rapporteur notes that a striking feature of the contemporary debate on climate-change-induced migration is the absence of a voice from the climate-change-induced migrants themselves. In part, this comes from the lack of self-awareness: climate-change-induced migrants rarely consider themselves as such (and many of them have simply never heard about the notion). In part, this also comes from the general reluctance of migrants (especially if they are irregular or vulnerable migrants) to voice their concerns or to denounce the human rights violations that they suffer. It is highly desirable that States actively support the development and sustainability of organizations representing migrants and giving them a voice, including providing training and capacity-building at the local level. Only through such representation can the processes designed to elaborate policy options aimed at coping with climate-change-induced migration be inclusive and participatory, in that they involve affected populations as directly and as early as possible. F. Migration as a solution: recognizing the opportunities of migration as adaptation to global environmental change 88. While, in the climate change context, migration is generally considered as a failure of adaptation, it is often forgotten that migration may in fact be an important adaptation strategy. In this context, the Special Rapporteur wishes to emphasize that migration should be considered both a challenge and a solution to climate-changeinduced displacement. Indeed, migration has been a traditional coping mechanism, widely used by populations around the world since time immemorial to adapt to 12-46071 21