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- Convenors:
-
Lily Salloum Lindegaard
(Danish Institute for International Studies)
Neil Webster (Danish Institute for International Studies)
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- Formats:
- Papers
- Stream:
- Governance
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 29 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
This panel seeks to nuance narratives of climate mobility. It examines how governance and policy interventions, from formal and informal governance actors across scales, influence how climate change is experienced and how households and individuals formulate and practice (im)mobility as a response.
Long Abstract:
Climate-related mobility is receiving extensive attention as the impacts of anthropogenic climate change intensify. Scholarly and policy debates on the topic are, however, often influenced by narratives of a direct, causal relationship between climate and mobility, where climate change drives mobility responses. However, this simplistic framing is questioned by research that examines the role of governance factors in shaping climate change impacts and mobility decisions and practices, including immobility.
This panel seeks to generate further engagement on the role of governance in climate-related (im)mobility. Specifically, contributions could consider:
• How governance and policy interventions (e.g. infrastructure, public services, social protection, climate change adaptation initiatives, natural resource management, livelihood-related initiatives) influence how climate change is experienced locally and how households and individuals formulate and practice mobility as a response.
• The interplay between formal and informal institutions (e.g. international institutions, national government actors, local government agencies, hometown associations, migrant networks, NGOs, traditional institutions and religious authorities) in shaping climate-related mobility options and decisions.
• The role of governance practices across scales in relation to climate-related mobility, not least their possible effects, influences and dynamics.
The panel will include papers from the Governing Climate Mobility (GCM, www.diis.dk/projekter/governing-climate-mobility) research programme, based at research institutions in Ethiopia, Ghana and Denmark, but welcomes contributions from others working to nuance analyses of climate and mobility with a governance perspective.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Tuesday 29 June, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
This paper seeks to fill a gap in the literature by carrying out an empirical study where longitudinal data from the Demographic Surveillance System of Kersa, Ethiopia addresses the spatial and temporal dynamics of the nexus between drought, poverty and immobility.
Paper long abstract:
In Ethiopia, droughts are frequent and their effects are exacerbated by deep rural poverty, limited government capacity and exposure to additional political, economic and health crises. How do households and individuals cope with repeated droughts? In a deprived rural area where climate-related policy interventions are extremely limited, the paper examines the influence of drought and poverty on the migration patterns of individuals by exploring a longitudinal dataset of 24,000 households and 148,000 individuals from the Demographic Surveillance System of Kersa, Ethiopia. By doing so, we locate the epistemology at the scale of deprived rural areas and commit to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by providing granular data to understand better the needs and experiences of vulnerable populations. Policy contributions in climate-related (im)mobility ought to be derived from empirical studies based on disaggregated poverty data.
Paper short abstract:
COVID 19 is spreading in Ethiopia and the Middle East, the destination of nearly a million Ethiopian migrants, many of whom are now being forcibly repatriated. This discussion aims to examine the multifaceted interaction of returning migrants with their families, communities and local authorities.
Paper long abstract:
The paper, part of a larger research in progress, is concerned with both domestic and international Ethiopian migrants as they are impacted by the pandemic though in different ways and circumstances. In the former case, return migration has been “voluntary” and a response to economic slowdown and an unfavorable social environment following the spread of the virus. In the case of Ethiopians in the Gulf, migrants have been forcibly deported, the justification behind the measure being a desire to protect nationals from the pandemic. Undocumented migrants have been rounded up, placed in camps and repatriated to Ethiopia, many with only the clothes on their back. In the last two years, several hundred thousand Ethiopians have returned in this way, with more expected to come. In both cases, migrants who left with high hopes have returned home destitute. A number of issues are central to understanding the interaction of returnees with their families, communities and state authorities at the local level: how will returnees (especially women) integrate into/interact with families and communities, considering that family and kin have invested heavily and made sacrifices for their benefit initially? What local employment prospects are there for returnees and what role will government play? Will the return induce claims, counter-claims and demands for land? Will returnees be perceived as agents of the spread of COVID 19 in their communities? Will return migration lead communities to re-examine the prevalent migration narrative responsible for sending large numbers of young men and women to faraway lands?
Paper short abstract:
Climate change mobility is common in Shashemene. In spite of its proximity, there is little movement of people to Hawasa industrial Park in search of jobs. This can be explained in terms of the long-established relation between the Arsi and the Sidama and ethnic-based federal political system.
Paper long abstract:
This study explores how the establishment of industrial parks in areas where climate change has resulted disruptive repercussions affects climate mobility. To this end, the Hawassa Industrial park, which is located in close proximity to Shashemene , is taken as a case study. The empirical data indicates that despite its close proximity that is about 20 km, the Hawassa Industrial park has failed to attract climate migrants from Shashemene. As the pattern of climate mobility in Shashemene shows that migrants prefer to travel to other nearby Oromo inhabited areas and to the Middle East than to the Hawassa industrial park which is located in the newly established Sidama Zone and dominated by Sidama ethnic group. This might be explained in terms of the long-established relationship between the Arsi-Oromo in Shashemene and the Sidama in Hawassa and the strong ethnic/cultural boundary between the two groups, which is further strengthened and ‘legalized’ by the ethnic/linguistic-based federal political system established following the 1991 political change.
Therefore, this study hypothesizes that state led interventions such as the establishment of large scale industrial parks in order to channel climate mobility to nearby areas can only be effective if socio-cultural and political context of inter-ethnic relations are duly considered. At the same time, the study asserts that social and ethnic networks are stronger in determining the pattern of climate mobility than material establishments, such as industrial parks, as in the case of Hawassa industrial park.