Collecting and Analysing Data on Climate‐related Local Mobility: the MISTIC Toolkit

Abstract

It is widely recognised that environmental events may trigger permanent and seasonal migration but less attention has been given to the way they shape the everyday mobility that shapes household livelihood strategies. This dearth of attention can be traced to a lack of statistical data, the difficulties of collecting information on local space-time trajectories and the absence of sound statistical measures by which to express them. We review prior work on the migration-environment nexus and trace the development of methods that aim to capture and measure temporary population movement. We identify nine discrete dimensions of mobility and introduce the Mobility in Space and Time among Individuals and Communities (MISTIC) toolkit that is designed to capture the spatio-temporal patterns of household everyday mobility using a flexible, participant centred approach that facilitates data recording and subsequent analysis. We illustrate application of the toolkit using data from 90 smallholder, subsistence households in semi-arid rural Northeast Brazil. The empirical evidence reveals systematic changes in the frequency and duration of both production and consumptionrelated movements in response to the 2010-2013 drought.

Everyday life and environmental change

“…In relation to more infrequent and profound changes, Safra de Campos et al. () explores how the day‐to‐day mobility patterns of small‐scale famers in northeast Brazil changed as a result of a major drought experienced in that region over a three‐year period. Here, a range of adjustments to daily movements related to agricultural production and consumption, as well as trips to visit relatives, church, and friends.…”

Deciphering interwoven drivers of environment-related migration – A multisite case study from the Ethiopian highlands

“…Further, recent participatory techniques such as mobility mapping were employed to overcome the lack of scaling options in ethnographic studies (e.g. Safra de Campos, Bell and Charles-Edwards, 2017) or to capture short-term migration patterns for large areas by using mobile network data (Lu et al, 2016). Another possible, yet so far under-utilized strategy (but see Haeffnert et al 2018) to integrate the benefits of qualitative and quantitative approaches is qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), which allows complex causal links to be traced by using a systematic set-theoretic approach.…”

Planned relocation and everyday agency in low‐lying coastal villages in Fiji

“…And in northeast Brazil, Safra de Campos et al. () found that small‐scale famers adjust their daily movements in response to drought, including mobility related to agricultural production and consumption, attendance at church, and trips to visit relatives and friends. So, people are shown to adjust everyday practices, lives and livelihoods in response to changing environments and risks.…”

“…In the Maldives, Kothari and Arnall (2019) found that island-based guest-house owners are keen to maintain beaches for tourists; with limited resources to construct large-scale defences, they manage movement of sand and coastal erosion through small-scale coastal modifications such as constructing small concrete groynes and using sandbags. And in northeast Brazil, Safra de Campos et al (2017) found that small-scale famers adjust their daily movements in response to drought, including mobility related to agricultural production and consumption, attendance at church, and trips to visit relatives and friends. So, people are shown to adjust everyday practices, lives and livelihoods in response to changing environments and risks.…”