Mobilising hydrosocial power: Climate perception, migration and the small scale geography of water in Cambodia

Parsons, Laurie; Chann, Sopheak

doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2019.102055

Cited by 20 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…As this paper has shown, the micro-scale analysis of non-migration decisions is a productive application. Such analyses allow for a more fine-grained understanding of context-specific local identities and relationships to the natural environment (see also Kothari and Arnall 2019;Parsons 2019;Parsons and Chann 2019). We thereby support a more intricate understanding of environmental migration and non-migration and argue that the ontological security perspective presented in this paper can guide future studies to better account for the complex, multifaceted and sometimes inconsistent mobility practices that people engage in.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

“…Therefore, we turn to literature on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, where the emphasis is increasingly shifting from objectivised expert-or government-determined risk assessments to subjective risk perceptions of affected communities (Artur and Hilhorst 2012;Adger et al 2013). In particular, we focus on insights on the affective and socio-cultural dimensions of risk perceptions (Harries 2008(Harries , 2017Ayeb-Karlsson et al 2019;Parsons and Chann 2019). These, we argue, can deepen our understanding of non-migration decision making beyond the aspirations-abilities framework.…”

Section: Local Perspectives On Risks and The Perceived Need To Migratementioning

confidence: 99%

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Safe from what? Understanding environmental non-migration in Chilean Patagonia through ontological security and risk perceptions

et al. 2021

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Why do communities prefer to stay in place despite potentially dangerous changes in their environment, even when governmental support for outmigration or resettlement is provided? That is the key question this paper seeks to answer. Voluntary immobility is a burgeoning research topic in environmental change-related migration studies, although the role of local sense-making of perceived risks and migration pressures has received only little attention. In order to examine decisions for non-migration, we argue that we need to consider people’s ontological security, or subjective sense of existential safety, which shapes risk perceptions. We apply this to the case of Villa Santa Lucía in Chilean Patagonia, where the local population has rejected relocation policies after the village was severely damaged by a mudslide in December 2017. We show how this rejection is not based on the lack of abilities to move, but on a fundamentally different risk assessment grounded in locally specific social representations of nature and human-nature relations. This alternative understanding of environmental risks allows the local population to uphold their sense of ontological security while remaining in Villa Santa Lucía, and renders relocation to avoid exposure to natural hazards futile or even inconsistent with local identities. We conclude that local sense-making of environmental risks is an important component of a more fine-grained understanding of environmental non-migration decisions.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Section: Local Perspectives On Risks and The Perceived Need To Migratementioning

confidence: 99%

Safe from what? Understanding environmental non-migration in Chilean Patagonia through ontological security and risk perceptions

et al. 2021

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“…Struggling to maintain land further escalates people's chance to migrate either to the labour market or land frontiers. To better understand migration tendency, further research should also explore the micro geography of land accessibility suggested by Parsons and Chann (2019). This detailed geography of land (re)defines land accessibility and productivity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rural migration tendencies are also largely (re)defined by rural people's ability to utilise and maintain the land, or their everyday relationship to land. The productivities of land are characterised by the labour and capital farmers invested on land (Baird, 2011;Padwe, 2011;Shah, 2013) as well as the ecological and geographical conditions of land (Dale, 1997;Parsons & Chann, 2019). Parsons and Chann (2019) found that micro-differences in accessing water play a critical role in how farmers respond to ecological changes, which then reflect their migration tendencies.…”

Section: Land and Migration In Cambodiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change migration in the post‐conflict state: Understanding Cambodian migration narratives through geopolitical history and land struggles

Chann

2021

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While there has been increasing scholarship exploring the social, cultural, and political dimensions of climate change migration, there is to date limited research situating climate migration studies within geopolitical history and land struggles, particularly in post-conflict states like Cambodia. Four decades after the Khmer Rouge genocide (1975)(1976)(1977)(1978)(1979) ended, rural migration and land struggles remain a central aspect of Cambodia's political and economic life. Since the beginning of the Cambodian civil war (1970), rural populations have repeatedly been forced to move from their land. However, the geopolitical dimension of land has not been widely considered in current climate change migration literature. To explore these dynamic relationships between land, migration, and geopolitical history, this paper investigates both historical narratives and everyday relationships with land of land (less) migrants in Veal Veaeng District, Western Cambodia, a former war zone and a Khmer Rouge stronghold during the 1980s and 1990s. This paper argues that political history plays a vital role in defining migration trajectories in Cambodia, especially how historical factors define land struggles. Through exploring migrants and land frontier dynamics, this paper discovers that poor peasants have been forced between labour markets and land frontiers.

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“…Thus, there is increasing consensus surrounding the need for "a new paradigm that joins traditional climate research with research on climate adaptation" (Overpeck et al 2011, 702) to bridge the gap between top-down and bottom-up approaches, both globally (Conway et al 2019) and in Cambodia (Jacobson et al 2019;Parsons and Chann 2019). The role of climate perceptions offers a possible bridge in this respect, offering the potential to relate the physical and social dimensions of climate response in a meaningful and productive manner-especially in relation to the role of marginality in driving climate migration (e.g., Marino 2012; Warner and Afifi 2014; Panda 2017; Conway et al 2019).…”

Section: Climate Change Data Mobility and Perception In Cambodiamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Subjective Climate Migrant: Climate Perceptions, Their Determinants, and Relationship to Migration in Cambodia

Parsons

Nielsen

2020

Annals of the American Association of Geographers

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This article examines the factors shaping the perception of climate change and the relationship between climate change perception and migration. Drawing on a 691-case survey of climate perceptions in Cambodia, it explores three dimensions of climate change perception. The first is the relationship of climate change perceptions to space, geography, and scale. Second is the influence of livelihoods to climate change perceptions, and third is the relationship of climate perceptions to migration. The results show that perceptions of climate change are not significantly influenced by spatial distance, meaning that divergent or even opposite climate perceptions might coexist within a relatively small geographical area. The data, however, show that climate perceptions are significantly influenced by both engagement in certain primary livelihoods and contextually specified socioeconomic marginality. Despite this subjectivity of climate perceptions, a strong, statistically significant relationship exists between climate change perception and the prevalence of migrants in the household. Overarchingly, the article challenges efforts to infer direct linkages between climate data and human behavior, arguing instead for a more subjectively attuned understanding of the impacts of climate change on migration, to account for the multiple factors that influence perceptions of and responses to climate change.

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Mobilising hydrosocial power: Climate perception, migration and the small scale geography of water in Cambodia

Cited by 20 publications

References 67 publications

Safe from what? Understanding environmental non-migration in Chilean Patagonia through ontological security and risk perceptions

Safe from what? Understanding environmental non-migration in Chilean Patagonia through ontological security and risk perceptions

Climate change migration in the post‐conflict state: Understanding Cambodian migration narratives through geopolitical history and land struggles

The Subjective Climate Migrant: Climate Perceptions, Their Determinants, and Relationship to Migration in Cambodia

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