Transcript - USP Electronic Research Repository

Legal and Policy Implications of Climate ChangeInduced Migration in Kiribati, Tuvalu, Yap and the Marshall
Islands: A Field Study
Presentation for
Law & Culture
4-6 July 2016, Victoria University of Wellington
Anita Jowitt, Lecturer in Law, University of the South Pacific
[email protected]
Research project overview

Students trained to conduct interviews, focus
groups and to collect site data

Primarily qualitative

Subject areas and sites researched student led
Question areas

Communities





Knowledge of climate change
Impacts of cc on communities - responses
Fears and desires re migration
Views on responsibilities
Policy makers/NGOs


Current plans and policies
Preferences re migration
• Migration with Dignity

Responsibilities
• Opinions on policies of external countries
• Place of international agreements
Research sites: differences in
migration options

Kiribati; Marshall Islands; Yap (FSM)


First 2 atoll states – no high land to move onto
internally
Yap has some high land as well as atolls, so internal
migration more possible

Marshall Islands, FSM – free movement to US (at
time of research)
Kiribati – no free movement to other countries

Histories of migration

Yap state
•
1 big high island and 134 small low-lying
islands
• 14 outer islands inhabited
• Covers about 1,200 kilometers of ocean
• Land Area is 120 square kilometers
• Population as of 2010 Census Count 11, 700
•
8000 on Yap mainland
Yap – histories of movement


Pre colonial – sawei tribute – from OI to Gagil on Yap
mainland
1950s Madrich settlement


Late 1980s settlement into Daboch



2007 state bought land (negotiated appropriation)
Managed by Council of Tamol (OI chiefs council)
Mid 1990s customary arrangement between Fais and
Gagil


Early 1990s state took over paying lease (?)
Post Typhoon Sudal 2004 Gargey expanded


Originally Catholic church land; then state took over paying lease
No titles, but recognised as following customs from sawei tribute
Late 1990s/early 2000s OI communities (Satawal, Ifaluk)
purchasing land on Yap mainland

No titles
FSM/RMI Migration to USA
 Discrimination
clear issue



Health
Education
Housing
against Micronesians a
Kiribati/RMI histories of migration
 RMI:
forced relocation by USA in World
War II
 Kiribati:
Relocation from Banaba to Rabi
due to phosphate mining/extreme
degradation of home island
Data

Small numbers, from selected communities and
officials



Yap: Ulithi (20); Fais (13); Yap Mainland (14); Govt &
NGO officials (9)
Kiribati: Arorae (25); Tarawa (2); Officials (13)
RMI: Rita (2); Laura (7); Officials (3)
Community attitudes to having to
migrate
 Many
people already move around,
temporarily, for education, work, family…
 Many
have family that have already
permanently moved, either internally or to
other countries
 There
is already thinking and talking about
the need to move due to impacts of cc
Community attitudes to having to
migrate
 Spectrum
of views – tending toward
pragmatic

Considerable agreement with migration with
dignity concept
 Hardest

for older generation
It is their beginning and it is very sad to simply
walk away and wave goodbye to their great
grandparents (Yap interviewee)
Community fears re migration:
broadly cultural
Fear
Kiribati
RMI
Yap
Discrimination in new
place
44%
91%
29%
Culture/identity
74%
100%
47%
Roles custom
leaders will have
30%
91%
24%
What will happen to
buried ancestors
7%
45%
41%
What will happen to
existing property
48%
64%
29%
Community fears re migration:
pragmatic
Fear
Kiribati
29%
RMI
64%
Yap
71%
Provision of basic
needs in new place
33%
55%
59%
Cost to buy land in
new place
26%
55%
41%
Having right skills to
find a new job
0%
73%
53%
Training for skills for
living in new place
0%
64%
29%
What support you
will have or be given
7%
45%
29%
Who will pay for the
costs of moving
Community fears re migration:
pragmatic/cultural
Fear
Kiribati
RMI
Yap
What happens if
countries don’t allow
migration
0%
64%
29%
Whether you will be
able to choose
where to go
74%
45%
41%
Whether
families/community
will stay together
74%
55%
41%
Being forced
to move by
govt
Government comments on
migration

Migration is on the agenda


I went on a Ministerial tour to the island of Kiribati and
it was very sad to see the impacts of climate
change… The people no longer need money to
adapt, build sea walls, but need another place to live.
Adaptation is too late. (Kiribati)
Migrating with dignity

We do not want to be called climate refugees. We
want to migrate with merits, with dignity as a nation,
as a people and as a unique culture (Kiribati)
Government comments on
migration 2

Need for greater response from receiving
countries

The country that is planning to move should have a
plan, but also the country receiving the population. No
country has plans regarding receiving climate change
migrants. (Yap)
Pacific development partners’
views

Engaging our Pacific Neighbours on Climate
Change: Australia’s approach (2009)


(12) Australia is committed to assisting our
neighbours in the Pacific realise their stated desire
to stay in their countries by responding to the
challenge of climate change.
New Zealand

We are assisting with adaptation and mitigation.
There are no specific migration policies. (Interview
with NZ Embassy in Kiribati)
Cf Local aspirations

The Niue Declaration on Climate Change 2008 (PIF):


ENCOURAGE the Pacific’s Development Partners to increase
their… support for climate change action on adaptation,
mitigation and, if necessary, relocation….
Research data




Communities are already thinking and talking about migration
Communities see the importance of including migration in
discussion of responses to climate change
Communities have fears about migration that need to be
addressed as part of response to climate change
Governments (or individuals within government) see the
importance of including migration in discussion of responses to
climate change
Legal/policy implications?
Future agenda?

Policy/political agenda:


We need engagement from development partners on the issue
of migration
Research agenda:





Why are there such notable differences in attitudes to migration
between countries?
Experiences of communities that have already migrated – what
makes migration a success, what are the main challenges…
Longitudinal studies of migration – who is migrating, where to,
why, for how long…
Preferences
Longitudinal studies on those who do not migrate – who is
staying, why, how are they adapting…