ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on existing literature and preliminary fieldwork in several sites in Solomon Islands to highlight the centrality of customary land tenure systems in facilitating or impeding relocation arising from environmental change. It acknowledges that customary tenure regimes have the potential to contribute to the marginalisation of vulnerable groups, but also draws attention to the potential for customary tenure systems to facilitate relocation. However, state authorities have generally been slow to respond to climate-induced displacement and resettlement in ways that cannot be understood in terms of weak state capacity alone. Despite numerous studies on climate-induced displacement and transnational refugee flows, very little research has been undertaken on localised relocations, such as those currently under way in Solomon Islands. Moreover, existing scholarship and policy tend to focus on the role of governments in responding to displacement and the development of state-based mechanisms for facilitating relocation.
