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

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Farbotko, C
McMichael, C
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2019
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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.

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Asia Pacific Viewpoint

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60

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2

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Human geography

Political science

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Farbotko, C; McMichael, C, Voluntary immobility and existential security in a changing climate in the Pacific, Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 2019, 60 (2), pp. 148-162

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