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

Abstract

With the expectation of adverse climate change impacts, some (often majority) Indigenous populations of the Pacific are expressing a preference to remain on Indigenous lands for cultural and spiritual reasons. In some cases, Indigenous people express preparedness to die on traditional territory rather than relocate, representing a new type of agency and resistance to dispossession. This is a prominent politics of place of relevance to emerging debates and decision-making around retreat and relocation. If climate change is experienced by populations as an existential threat to culture, identity and place-based connections, voluntary immobility can be an important adaptation strategy that helps to strengthen cultural and spiritual resilience among those facing the prospect of a lost homeland. This paper argues that voluntary immobility decisions need ethically robust and culturally appropriate policies and practices, particularly when a site is deemed by external experts to be no longer fit for human settlement. National governments, civil society groups, international organisations and donors will need to: engage in culturally meaningful dialogue with communities about relocation and immobility; respect, protect and fulfil the rights of 'immobile' people and those on the move; and confirm that in situ adaptation options have been exhausted.

Environmental Mobility in a Polarized World: Questioning the Pertinence of the “Climate Refugee” Label for Pacific Islanders

“…Preliminary research also reveals the unwillingness of islanders to leave, an ordeal often associated with loss of identity and culture (Farbotko and McMichael 2019 ). Many older Carteret inhabitants have claimed “we’ll stay here and die!” (Friends of the Earth Brisbane, interview 2018), as the cultural shock of a total-subsistence island lifestyle moving to a capitalist system in a Western society would be too difficult to bear.…”

“…Preliminary research also reveals the unwillingness of islanders to leave, an ordeal often associated with loss of identity and culture (Farbotko and McMichael 2019). Many older Carteret inhabitants have claimed "we'll stay here and die!"…”

Why climate migration is not managed retreat: Six justifications

“…flood, wildfire or SLR). It is can be applied at a range of spatial and temporal scales ( Hanna et al, 2019 ), may be voluntary or involuntary ( Mach et al, 2019 , Farbotko and McMichael, 2019 ), and may increase or undermine community resilience ( Huang, 2018 ). Unlike CM, MR programs often discourage affected persons from returning to risk-prone areas ( Lopez-Carr and Marter-Kenyon, 2015 , McAdam and Ferris, 2015 ).…”

Justice in climate change adaptation planning: conceptual perspectives on emergent praxis

“…In global spatial terms, a fundamental justice problem is the fact that some of the communities hardest hit by climate change impacts have contributed relatively little to the problem (Dodman and Satterthwaite, 2008). The discourse surrounding foregone futures of small island developing states (SIDS) as a result of climate change epitomizes the existential nature of justice in the face of climate change (Barnett and Campbell, 2010;Betzold, 2015;Farbotko and McMichael, 2019;Weir and Pittock, 2017). Spatial distortions of cause and effect extend from the international to the local scale, where marginalized individuals and groups lack the financial means for participating in capitalist mass consumption.…”