Abstract
The influence of climate change and perceptions of it on people’s migration decisions has received significant prominence, especially for people living on low-lying islands. To contribute to this literature, this paper uses Maldives as a case study for exploring the research question: How does climate change influence or not influence people’s migration decisions in Maldives? Previous work tends to start from a disciplinary climate change perspective, while this study combines migration, mobility, and island studies perspectives, within which climate change sits. As well, rather than focusing on the area around the capital, Malé, as with many previous studies, the 113 interviews here were conducted in eight islands across three atolls. The method was qualitative, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews using purposive sampling of ordinary people. Contrary to a view of islanders preparing to flee their islands as “climate change refugees”, the interviewees provided nuanced and varied responses. They rarely identified the potential of future impacts due to climate change as influencing their migration-related decisions. When migration was considered, it was chiefly internal movement seeking a better standard of living via improved services, better living conditions, and more job opportunities. If migration related to potential climate change impacts might happen, then it was assumed to be in the future for decisions then. This lack of influence of climate change-related perceptions on Maldivians’ migration decisions fits well within island mobilities studies, from which climate change perspectives could adopt wider contexts.
Highlights
Understanding how environmental changes affect or do not affect human migration and settlement patterns has a rich scientific history (Cebula and Vedder 1973; El-Hinnawi 1985; Petersen 1958; Van Andel 1989), with the influences of contemporary climate change earningExtended author information available on the last page of the articleClimatic Change (2019) 153:285–299 particular prominence (Baldwin and Fornalé 2017; Brzoska and Fröhlich 2016; McLeman and Gemenne 2018)
To contribute to this literature, this paper focuses on one of the most iconised locations with respect to climate change migration: low-lying islands, in this case, the Indian Ocean archipelago of Maldives
The interviewees gave highly nuanced and varied responses, which should be expected given the heterogeneity of all communities (Titz et al 2018), but which is sometimes subsumed by a discourse of drowning/disappearing islands leading to the islanders desperately preparing to become “climate change refugees”
Summary
Understanding how environmental changes affect or do not affect human migration and settlement patterns has a rich scientific history (Cebula and Vedder 1973; El-Hinnawi 1985; Petersen 1958; Van Andel 1989), with the influences of contemporary climate change earningExtended author information available on the last page of the articleClimatic Change (2019) 153:285–299 particular prominence (Baldwin and Fornalé 2017; Brzoska and Fröhlich 2016; McLeman and Gemenne 2018). When trying to determine why people migrate or not, empirical studies demonstrate the challenges in decoupling climate change from other environmental or non-environmental influences (Baldwin et al 2014; Black et al 2013; Gentle et al 2018; Obokata et al 2014; Simonelli 2015). As such, determining cause and effect is not straightforward, leading many authors to question climate change and migration links (Connell 2016; Gemenne 2011; Hartmann 2010; Nicholson 2014; Stal and Warner 2009). Gaining further insights into local viewpoints and interests on migration and climate change links, without presupposing that climate change or its impacts would be of concern, would assist in formulating policy responses to the perceptions and realities of climate change influencing migration and nonmigration (Baldwin 2013; Featherstone 2013; McLeman and Gemenne 2018)
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