“The place where I live is where I belong”: community perspectives on climate change and climate-related migration in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu

• Main Author: Nikita Perumal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Prince Edward Island 2018-05-01
• Series: Island Studies Journal
• Subjects: climate change; climate refugees; climate-related migration; community perspectives; migration; pacific islands; vanuatu

In recent years, narratives of the ‘climate refugee’ have abounded within the larger conversation regarding climate change. However, anthropologies from climate- vulnerable Pacific Islands—particularly those most targeted by ‘climate refugee’ discourse— have determined that the way many media outlets and policy specialists speak of climate- related migration is sensationalized, over-simplistic, and unrepresentative of how Pacific Islanders approach the issue. Aimed at illustrating how local context can add necessary nuance to the ‘climate refugee’ narrative, this paper investigates community perspectives on climate- related migration within a Pacific Island that has not yet been covered in the literature—the Melanesian country of Vanuatu. Based on qualitative fieldwork in Port Vila, Vanuatu, I explore the positions of ni-Vanuatu policymakers and climate activists regarding migration linked to climate change and argue that these be incorporated into policy analyses of climate- related migration in the Pacific. I find that ni-Vanuatu perspectives reflect an unwillingness to resettle as a result of climate change unless as a last resort, a prioritization of in-situ adaptation measures, and a preoccupation with maintaining cultural and livelihood links should resettlement occur. The implication of these findings is that policies that center these perspectives would allow for community control over movement—including the decision of whether to relocate at all. It will also emphasize prevention and minimization of the circumstances that precipitate climate-related migration. These findings serve as an original contribution to the topic of climate-related migration in Vanuatu—on which no scholarship has been done previously—and as representative of similar island nations.