scholarly journals Where To From Here? The Potential for Climate Change-Related Migration: What is the State of the International Approach to the Potential Problem of Climate Change-Related Migration, and what Contribution does Hodgkinson, Anderson, Burton and Young's Proposed Climate Change Displaced Persons Convention Make to the International Approach?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anne Cawthorn
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Potential Problem ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
The State ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Island States ◽  
Public Servant ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
And Migration

<p>Climate change may be a relatively new phenomenon, but its effects are being felt throughout the world and having a significant impact on peoples’ lives in many countries. Some of those most keenly feeling the effects live in areas that are particularly vulnerable to destabilizing factors acting in conjunction with existing challenges. The effects of climate change are an exacerbating factor in sometimes already difficult lives. In some areas, the effects of climate change are or may become such that the inhabitants contemplate migration to find a more viable life elsewhere, either in their own country or in another country. It is by no means guaranteed that the effects of climate change will inexorably lead people, such as those in low-lying small island states, to migrate outside their country, particularly if there are adequate measures taken to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the potential for climate change-related migration is drawing near, if it has not already arrived, as a factor for some people’s decisions to migrate internally or externally. Some work currently underway considers approaches to dealing with climate change-related migration and the possible related issues around human rights protections and practical management. Climate change is an amorphous, complex and politically challenging issue for governments and stakeholders to deal with. Its effects on peoples’ lives can be significant, especially in conjunction with existing development, environmental, and economic challenges. It is important to ensure that any approach created is necessary, in light of existing mechanisms and available resources, and that it does not disadvantage any other groups of people through its creation or functioning. This thesis considers the state of the international approach to the potential problem of climate change-related migration. One recently developed approach was a proposed Climate Change Displaced Persons Convention, which has been formulated by Hodgkinson, Burton, Anderson and Young (2010). A range of information was considered to try and find a balance between the attempt to deal with climate change as a public and foreign policy issue and the human reactions and subsequent choices people make in dealing with the effects of climate change. Due to the complications of holding a position as a public servant working in the field of responses to climate change, I decided to use a methodology that would enable me to remain a step removed from the process, to avoid influencing responses. The thesis reviews current literature and experiences on climate change and migration, particularly in the Pacific, identifies key issues, and assesses the potential effectiveness of the Convention in addressing the issues identified. Information sources included drawing on reports of first hand experience of climate change related migration and those living in the front line on the islands, experiences of working in the public and NGO sectors, and academic considerations of how to address climate change and migration.</p>

scholarly journals Where To From Here? The Potential for Climate Change-Related Migration: What is the State of the International Approach to the Potential Problem of Climate Change-Related Migration, and what Contribution does Hodgkinson, Anderson, Burton and Young's Proposed Climate Change Displaced Persons Convention Make to the International Approach?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anne Cawthorn
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Potential Problem ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
The State ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Island States ◽  
Public Servant ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
And Migration

<p>Climate change may be a relatively new phenomenon, but its effects are being felt throughout the world and having a significant impact on peoples’ lives in many countries. Some of those most keenly feeling the effects live in areas that are particularly vulnerable to destabilizing factors acting in conjunction with existing challenges. The effects of climate change are an exacerbating factor in sometimes already difficult lives. In some areas, the effects of climate change are or may become such that the inhabitants contemplate migration to find a more viable life elsewhere, either in their own country or in another country. It is by no means guaranteed that the effects of climate change will inexorably lead people, such as those in low-lying small island states, to migrate outside their country, particularly if there are adequate measures taken to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the potential for climate change-related migration is drawing near, if it has not already arrived, as a factor for some people’s decisions to migrate internally or externally. Some work currently underway considers approaches to dealing with climate change-related migration and the possible related issues around human rights protections and practical management. Climate change is an amorphous, complex and politically challenging issue for governments and stakeholders to deal with. Its effects on peoples’ lives can be significant, especially in conjunction with existing development, environmental, and economic challenges. It is important to ensure that any approach created is necessary, in light of existing mechanisms and available resources, and that it does not disadvantage any other groups of people through its creation or functioning. This thesis considers the state of the international approach to the potential problem of climate change-related migration. One recently developed approach was a proposed Climate Change Displaced Persons Convention, which has been formulated by Hodgkinson, Burton, Anderson and Young (2010). A range of information was considered to try and find a balance between the attempt to deal with climate change as a public and foreign policy issue and the human reactions and subsequent choices people make in dealing with the effects of climate change. Due to the complications of holding a position as a public servant working in the field of responses to climate change, I decided to use a methodology that would enable me to remain a step removed from the process, to avoid influencing responses. The thesis reviews current literature and experiences on climate change and migration, particularly in the Pacific, identifies key issues, and assesses the potential effectiveness of the Convention in addressing the issues identified. Information sources included drawing on reports of first hand experience of climate change related migration and those living in the front line on the islands, experiences of working in the public and NGO sectors, and academic considerations of how to address climate change and migration.</p>

Adaptation to Climate Change in Small Island Developing States: A Systematic Literature Review of Academic Research

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carola Klöck ◽  
Patrick D. Nunn
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Small Island Developing States ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Island States ◽  
Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽  
The Pacific

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) share a common vulnerability to climate change. Adaptation to climate change and variability is urgently needed yet, while some is already occurring in SIDS, research on the nature and efficacy of adaptation across SIDS is fragmentary. In this article, we systematically review academic literature to identify where adaptation in SIDS is documented; what type of adaptation strategies are taken, and in response to which climate change impacts; and the extent to which this adaptation has been judged as successful. Our analysis indicates that much adaptation research is concentrated on the Pacific, on independent island states, and on core areas within SIDS. Research documents a wide array of adaptation strategies across SIDS, notably structural or physical and behavioral changes. Yet, evaluation of concrete adaptation interventions is lacking; it thus remains unclear to what extent documented adaptation effectively and sustainably reduces SIDS’ vulnerability and increases their resilience.

Climate Change and the role of the Alliance of Small Island States

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Espen Ronneberg
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Island States ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Small Island States ◽  
External Forces ◽  
Second World

This chapter highlights the importance of addressing climate change, especially for small island developing states (SIDS) located in the Pacific region. It also looks into the role of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in the protection of SIDS. Global climate change, resulting in sea level rise, poses a threat to the very existence of the peoples of the Pacific region. In response, the AOSIS came together in 1990 at the Second World Climate Conference as an informal grouping of like-minded countries. They joined forces through recognition that SIDS from all regions of the world share a number of common characteristics and extreme vulnerabilities to a range of external forces, in particular climate change.

scholarly journals Atolls in the ocean—canaries in the mine? Australian journalism contesting climate change impacts in the Pacific

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Nash
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Small Island ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Island States ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Small Island States ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Pacific Ocean

This article has two complementary aspects, empirical and theoretical. Empirically, it examines the reportage of the two most prolific Australian journalists on the threat posed by climate change to low-lying Pacific island states, reporting over the two-year period leading up to and following the high-profile COP15 summit in Copenhagen in 2009. It was at that summit that the concerns of the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS) were given extensive media coverage and managed to dominate the agenda for several days, to the consternation of some other summit participants. COP15 affords a good case study because the media coverage of this issue was variegated and heavily contested, contrary to earlier scholarly claims about an allegedly mono-dimensional quality to the journalism about climate change in the Pacific Ocean (Nash & Bacon, 2013).

scholarly journals Climate-Change Blues: Sustaining Village Life in Tonga

Te Kaharoa ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Teena Brown Pulu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Island States ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Rising Sea Levels ◽  
Bad Weather ◽  
Village Life

The loss of small island states will affect us all.  Climate change refugees will become a very serious issue for all countries. Lord Ma’af On the afternoon of December 15th 2009, Tonga’s Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Lord Ma’afu, made a passionate plea to the international press assembled at the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.  He had a message he wanted to get out to the world.  Politically, Ma’afu awoke a subconscious fear developed countries stepped around not wanting to stir and be forced to deal with.  Snared in the small island uncertainty of rising sea levels was the inevitability climate change refugees might need another place to live (Bedford and Bedford, 2010; Fagan, 2013).  Where would they go?  Who would take them in?  What countries would help the Pacific Islands? Despite sociologists and political scientists documenting the failure of global governance to deliver a legally binding agreement for controlling climate change (Giddens, 2009; Held and Hervey, 2009; Fisher, 2004), alternatives put forward have not been taken up.  What other methods for governing over bad weather are there? (Goldin, 2013).  And how is village life in Tonga coping with climate blues?  

scholarly journals The Influence of Discourses of Vulnerability and Resiliency on Climate Change Migrants' Agency: 'Migration With Dignity' in Kiribati

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tearney McDermott
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Climate Justice ◽  
Small Island ◽  
The People ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Migration Decisions ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Relationship

This research paper presents a critical review of scholarly and policy literature discussing the relationship between climate change and migration. Focusing specifically on Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the climate change discourses of vulnerability and resiliency as they commonly operate are explored. A case study of Kiribati – a low-lying SIDS in the Pacific – is used to illustrate the complexities of climate change and the migration decisions of populations presently experiencing climate change. A discourse analysis focusing on how different stakeholders’ understandings of Kiribati as vulnerable and resilient influence the agency and migration decisions of the people of Kiribati is conducted. This research utilizes concepts from climate justice theoretical literature as a framework for understanding vulnerability, resiliency, and responses to climate change.

scholarly journals The Influence of Discourses of Vulnerability and Resiliency on Climate Change Migrants' Agency: 'Migration With Dignity' in Kiribati

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tearney McDermott
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Climate Justice ◽  
Small Island ◽  
The People ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Migration Decisions ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Relationship

This research paper presents a critical review of scholarly and policy literature discussing the relationship between climate change and migration. Focusing specifically on Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the climate change discourses of vulnerability and resiliency as they commonly operate are explored. A case study of Kiribati – a low-lying SIDS in the Pacific – is used to illustrate the complexities of climate change and the migration decisions of populations presently experiencing climate change. A discourse analysis focusing on how different stakeholders’ understandings of Kiribati as vulnerable and resilient influence the agency and migration decisions of the people of Kiribati is conducted. This research utilizes concepts from climate justice theoretical literature as a framework for understanding vulnerability, resiliency, and responses to climate change.

scholarly journals Applying Past Lessons Learned to the Relocation of Climate Change Induced Transboundary Displaced Persons

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikiyasu Nakayama ◽  
Hirotaka Fujibayashi ◽  
Nagisa Yoshioka
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Host Community ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Developed Nations

<p>This study aims to identify a useful and practical methodology to rehabilitate the livelihoods of climate change induced transboundary displaced persons (CCITDP) after they move to developed nations, in particular those from the Small Island Developing States in the Pacific Ocean. Migration sometimes causes conflicts among migrants, or between migrants and those in the host community. Such conflicts could be avoided or mitigated by examining the lessons learned from people’s past resettlement experiences—from those displaced by large infrastructure development projects in Asia and the Pacific or from evacuees of Fukushima due to the nuclear power plant disaster—and using these experiences to better cope with the emergence of CCITDP. Evacuees of an island that is sinking due to sea-level rise may be regarded as either voluntary migrants or CCITDP depending on when they leave the island. Although, lower-class people, who are vulnerable to hardships, will need to leave their homes earlier than wealthier people. These two groups of migrants should be assisted equally to avoid conflicts between the two groups because they may live in the same place after relocation and also to discourage them from staying on the island until they are entitled to assistance as CCITDP. Not all migrants will miss family bonds after relocation, and some may actually enjoy their emancipation from old customs by moving to a new place. The best destination for the first generation of migrants may differ from the best destination for their children.</p>

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