Panel: Immobility as an overlooked aspect in the debate on climate-induced human mobility

Abstract

While public awareness of the various ways in which the climate crisis affects patterns of human mobility is increasing, immobility remains a blind spot in the concurrent policy debates. A better understanding of immobility, the factors underlying individual decision-making (including gender-based and intersectional vulnerabilities), and implications for planned relocations is needed to adequately support affected populations – while acknowledging that adaptation measures tacitly focus on enabling people to stay, without explicitly discussing immobility as a choice. The aspirations/capabilities framework can be a useful starting point to differentiate between voluntary and involuntary types of immobility on the one hand, and mobility on the other hand: it centers individual wishes and preferences and as such is a good basis for rights-based approaches in dealing with climate-induced risks for human habitats. In practice, rights-based approaches are severely underdeveloped and underfunded, leading to the phenomenon of trapped populations.

While the aspirations/capabilities framework allows for broad brush categorization, the lines between the different categories remain blurred in reality and do not account for temporary movements. The panel aims to explore political answers to this complex phenomenon, and asks how to better make space for individuals‘ rights and preferences. Welcome contributions include case studies from different country contexts as well as novel data on immobility in the context of climate change.

in-person event