Displaced by the State: The Case of Resettlement Environment and Migration.

Displaced by the State: The Case of Resettlement

Environment and Migration

Introduction: The Rebels of Vendée

Impacts & Population Displacement

10 Source: Castro et al. 2009 IHDP Open Meeting Presentation

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Climate-Demography Vulnerability Index

Source: Samson, J., D. Berteaux, B.J. McGill and M.M. Humphries. 2011. Geographic disparities and moral hazards in the predicted impacts of climate change on human populations. Global Ecology and Biogeography http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00632.x

Likely Impacts of Climate Change Requiring Adaptation Infrastructure

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Impact Potential Adaptation Response

Sea level rise, salt-water intrusion

Sea walls, dykes, freshwater injection facilities

Decreasing water availability, increasing droughts

Dams, irrigation works, water transfer schemes, desalination plants

Increasing water availability, increasing floods

Dams, dykes, levees, flood control infrastructure

Climate Change Mitigation Projects

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Objective Potential Mitigation Response

Reduce GHG emissions Hydroelectric facilities, large-scale wind farms

Develop biofuels Biofuel plantations (jatropha, sugar cane, soy, corn)

Increase “sinks” for GHGs Forest plantations

Geoengineering Injecting H2S or SO2 high in the stratosphere, tampering with ocean albedo, and possibly terrestrial

Resettlement Is Already OccurringDesertification Inner Mongolia: China’s “ecological reinstallation” program aims to fight

desertification in drought-prone grasslands by sedenterizing pastoralists

River Basins/Coastal Mekong: Vietnam has moved communities from river bank to areas further back Zambezi: Mozambique has promoted voluntary resettlement from flood plain to

higher ground Alaska: Indigenous communities along the coast Coastal Honduras: Garifuna communities settled inland Murik Lakes, PNG: Failed resettlement related to SLR

SISes Maldives: Government promotes resettlement from outer islands to principal islands Carteret Islands, PNG: Failed resettlement related to SLR Kiribati: Buying land in Fiji

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Learning from the Three-Gorges Dam

Needs (1)1. Legal protections: Establish legal frameworks for climate

change resettlement to protect welfare and human rights of affected populations

2. Participation: Involvement of affected communities, in both source and destination areas, in assessments and decisions regarding resettlement locations, compensation, and development programs

3. Equity: The process needs to be fair and equitable for the community, with every effort made to improve livelihoods

4. Capacity building: Interdisciplinary training for resettlement professionals that includes economics, anthropology, public health, and case studies

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Needs (2)

5. Impact assessments: Baseline environmental, health, and social IAs to establish benchmarks for evaluating resettlement performance through monitoring and evaluation programs

6. Research: Research to adapt existing knowledge on resettlement to the special case of climate related resettlement, with particular reference to disaster-related resettlement and learning from incipient climate-related resettlement

7. Finance: Establishment of financial mechanisms for capacity building and anticipatory planning in developing countries exposed most to climate risks, with joint funding by donors and the exposed countries themselves, since many M&A projects will not generate revenues that could offset costs

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Conclusions Resettlement should be a last resort in climate adaptation, but

the reality is that it is already occurring in some countries and this trend is likely to intensify.

We can learn from past mistakes Managing risk is going to be increasingly central in a 2+ or 4+

degree world Expect the unexpected: Many of the most damaging impacts

of large infrastructure and DFDR are unforeseen Need to evaluate pros and cons of different models

Laissez-faire approach (e.g. US post-Katrina, many developing countries) Top-down “environmental migration” approach of China Resettlement of refugee communities (US and Australia)

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