Transformative mobilities in the Pacific: Promoting adaptation and development in a changing climate

Abstract

Climate change is affecting Pacific life in significant and complex ways. Human mobility is shaped by climate change and is increasingly positioned by international agencies, policymakers, and governments as having an important role in both climate change adaptation and human development. We consider the potential for human mobility to promote adaptation and development among Pacific people in a changing climate. We argue that where Pacific people choose mobility, this should be supported and create opportunities that are responsive to the histories and existing patterns of mobility and place attachment among Pacific Islanders; commence from a position of climate and development justice; and advance human rights and socio-political equity. Transformative mobilities are where mobility, adaptation, and development intersect to achieve the best possible outcomes for cultural identity, human rights, adaptation, and human development goals across scales and in origin and destination sites. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

A mobilities perspective on migration in the context of environmental change

“…While the term “mobility” is often taken to be a synonym for migration (see, for example, Adger, Safra de Campos, & Mortreux, ; Boas, ; Farbotko et al, ), we here refer to the mobilities approach as a distinct analytical perspective with theoretical and methodological implications (Hannam et al, ; Sheller & Urry, ; Urry, ). Recently, it has found increasing resonance in environmental and migration scholarship (Baldwin, Fröhlich, & Rothe, ; Boas, Kloppenburg, van Leeuwen, & Lamers, ; Gill, Caletrío, & Mason, ; Parsons, ; Schapendonk & Steel, ).…”

“…However, empirical research points not only to people's inability (or low motility), but also to their lack of interest in becoming mobile (Adams, ; Farbotko et al, ; Klepp & Herbeck, ; Zickgraf, ). While it is a well‐established theme in the displacement and resettlement literature (see, for example, Cernea, ), this disinterest or reluctance to move has rarely been conceptualized in the literature on environmental change‐induced migration.…”

Voluntary immobility and existential security in a changing climate in the Pacific

“…An ethically vexed situation may arise if people choose to remain in places deemed by planners as having exhausted in‐situ adaptation options. The Pacific is a place where such intractable situations are arising, and are starting to be considered a matter of climate justice (Cooper, ; Farbotko et al ., ). National governments, civil society and communities are engaging in dialogue about ways forward when in‐situ adaptation seems impossible and yet communities do not want to relocate.…”

Human mobility and environmental change: a survey of perceptions and policy direction

“…We add that the North-South binary needs to be unsettled in multiple ways, and this may entail new conceptual development attending to multiple sites, modes and migration channels simultaneously (e.g. Farbotko et al 2018). Geographical unevenness, furthermore, means more concerted effort is needed to seek out, interview, listen to and document the perspectives of those less studied.…”