Regional intergovernmental integrative governance: climate change, mobility and justice in the Pacific Islands

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2021-01-31
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en
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Over the past century, global migration trends have remained stable. However, political salience on migration has intensified. Since the 1980s, human movement within the context of climate change has been problematised and the different discourses have an impact on the governance of climate mobility. Although among the smaller emitters of greenhouse gas, the low-elevated developing Pacific Islands are at the forefront of climate change impacts. While displacement due to sea-level rise has already occured, only a few Pacifc Islands have implemented climate mobility policies yet. By applying the Integrative Governance framework, conducting interviews and attend webinars, this thesis answers the following: “How is the nexus of climate change - environmental justice - mobility issues being governed by governments at the regional level in the Pacific islands and how can this be explained?” As part of the sustainable development governance system, this thesis finds that there is a lack of regional governance of the nexus of climate change-EJ-mobility issues. First, this non-regime is explained by the fact that climate mobility is not considered a political priority. Pacific governments fear that it would push donors to solely invest in migration programmes and that industrialised countries would reduce their climate mitigation objectives. Second, Islanders often reject climate change as a mobility crisis and voluntary immobility is often perceived as a indidegenous strategy to climate change. Therefore, it is recommended to further research the perceptions of the Islanders at the regional level in order to enhance regional cooperation and policy coherence. It would enable regional discussions to be extricated from the hegemonic discourse of labour migration as a climate strategy brought in by foreign actors. Pacific Islanders have to be considered in the political debate and future agreements must take into account the colonial history; the strong attachment of the Islanders to their land; and the central role of religion. Key words: climate change, mobility, environmental justice, Pacific Islands, regional integrative governance.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen