Planned relocation: An unusual case for developed countries

Abstract

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that anywhere between 250 million to 1 billion people will undertake some form of human mobility by 2050 due to climate change. Planned relocation is an important adaptive tool for governments and communities around the world dealing with human mobility due to climate change. The literature shows that planned relocations allow governments to be proactive to avoid a crisis resulting from the impacts of climate change. However, in terms of governance and policy, both at the international and national levels, a lot has been written about migration and displacement, but not enough focus is given to planned relocation. The paper, using the comparative method and qualitative analysis, will examine cases of relocation identified from different countries around the world to create a database of case studies. The paper analyses 12 cases of planned relocation which constitutes a medium-N study in comparative politics. The paper seeks to answer two main questions, namely, (a) What lessons can be learnt from cases of planned relocation due to slow-onset climate change? and (b) Can theory of agenda-setting and salience of issues explain why some cases of planned relocation happened more efficiently compared to others? Analysis reveals that lack of governance frameworks and planning are the major challenges faced by communities in both developing and developed countries choosing planned relocations. Secondly, a comparison of two cases of planned relocation, shows that the salience of the issue of planned relocation might explain how some communities fared better.