Reconceptualising climate-induced displacement in the context of terminological uncertainty

Abstract

ABSTRACT The relationship between climate change and human mobility is generating increased public, academic and policy recognition. This linkage has captured the collective imagination, with forced mobility representing one of the most perceptible societal impacts of climate change and environmental hazards. Through in-depth interviews with subject-matter experts related to the Asia Pacific region, this paper explores the terminological uncertainty evident when conceptualising and addressing the issues associated with human mobility, climate change and the associated increased risk of environmental hazards. Shaped through the complexity of socio-ecological systems and often-intertwined causal drivers of migration, this uncertainty reveals a major policy gap in the nexus between human mobility and climate change on multiple scales. The findings from this study explore the ways in which these terms act to conceal global accountabilities and draw boundaries around ‘acceptable’ forms of mobility. By evoking value-based framings with particular emphasis on equality, justice and responsibility – this paper forwards alternative ideas and subjugated narratives to position how such values are posed as subjects of political and moral weight.