13 - Any Port in a Storm? Climate, Mobility, and Choice in Pacific Small Island Developing States

Summary

The Pacific Small Island Developing States are low-lying and located near the equator, where changes in mean temperature, rainfall, and hazards such as floods and storms will be most severe. As developing countries, their populations are often classed as vulnerable with their ability to adapt constrained. This chapter identifies current mobility flows in Kiribati, Tuvalu, and Marshall Islands to show that movements are largely from outer islands towards urban centres which can create new risks in overcrowded, exposed towns, and cities. While flows of people into urban areas are increasing, flows out are less dynamic. People may want to move, but their agency may be limited.

The chapter then considers existing and potential frameworks and innovative ways to facilitate more adaptive and dignified forms of migration. It outlines opportunities for addressing climate-related mobility for the Pacific Small Island Developing States at the global, regional, and national level. It considers global frameworks such as the UNFCCC and then analyses the constraints to regional agreements which would enable ‘Migration with Dignity’. The chapter concludes that new efforts at all levels are essential to boost the agency of Islanders to be able to decide whether to move, and under what circumstances.