ABSTRACT
During the five years since publication of the first edition in 2016 there have been some significant shifts in the discourse about climate change and migration in Oceania. Especially noteworthy in this regard has been the deliberate shift away from planning for permanent relocation of atoll populations as the primary focus of strategies for dealing with the long-term impacts of global warming on low-lying coral islands. Strategies for coping with a climate characterised by more frequent and intense extreme events as well as higher and more acidic warmer seas increasingly prioritise adaptation to environmental pressures rather than abandonment of islands and relocation in other countries. Voluntary migration overseas is not discouraged as an adaptation strategy, but government-planned, large-scale relocation projects are off the agenda in at least two of Oceania’s atoll states: Kiribati and Tuvalu. We review these changes in the discourse about climate change and migration in the context of the three themes covered by our earlier chapter on environment and migration: historical and intellectual developments; major claims about migration and climate change in the Pacific; and the fundamental importance of land for indigenous peoples and others when addressing the challenges of climate change.
