Climate‐Change Adaptation and Mitigation: Implications for Land Acquisition and Population Relocation

Abstract

In response to the challenge of climate change developing‐country governments are evolving adaptation and mitigation programmes for which they are seeking international financing. This article presents the findings of a review of national action programmes and other interventions to assess their likely societal impacts with an emphasis on land‐use change, future land acquisitions, population displacement and resettlement. It considers the policy and development challenges involuntary resettlement in particular will pose, and assesses the robustness of current governance arrangements to manage them and cautions that at present the financing arrangements do not prioritise the legal protection of affected populations.

Human adaptation: Manage climate-induced resettlement

“…In the past 20 years, more than 300 million people have been resettled as a result of conservation, urbanization or development schemes, including dam and road-building, mainly in developing countries 5 . Most moves faced local resistance and were detrimental to livelihoods, health and well-being 3,5 . Remuneration for lost income, land and jobs rarely compensated for reduced access to resources, fractured social networks and emotional trauma 2,3 .…”

“…Most moves faced local resistance and were detrimental to livelihoods, health and well-being 3,5 . Remuneration for lost income, land and jobs rarely compensated for reduced access to resources, fractured social networks and emotional trauma 2,3 . Climate-induced resettlement is viewed widely as a last resort 2,4 .…”

“…Papua New Guinea, China and Vietnam have already relocated communities that were vulnerable to flooding 2 . More than a dozen developing countries, including Uganda and Bhutan, have submitted national adaptation plans to the United Nations that involve population resettlement 3 . Sea-level rise this century threatens the cultural and national survival of several low-lying island nations in the Pacific and Indian oceans 4 .…”

Systematic review approaches for climate change adaptation research

“…The most dominant adaptation focus within which systematic reviews have penetrated has been reviewing lessons from, and trends in, adaptation governance (Hardee and Mutunga 2010;Berrang-Ford et al 2011;Ford et al 2011;Pearce et al 2011;Ford et al 2012a, b;Larsen et al 2012;Murtinho and Hayes 2012;Biesbroek et al 2013;Kamau and Mwaura 2013;Vink et al 2013). Systematic reviews have not been restricted to this focus, however, with articles considering tourism (Kajan and Saarinen 2013), business management (Linnenluecke et al 2013), transport (Eisenack et al 2012), urban planning (Bowler et al 2010), human displacement (McLeman 2011;McDowell 2013), human management of ecosystem services (Heller and Zavaleta 2009;Charlton and Arnell 2011;Kolstrom et al 2011;Shepard et al 2011), and case studies of generalized adaptation research (Murtinho and Hayes 2012;Ford et al 2012a, b).…”

“…In some cases, authors applying systematic review approaches have reported formal descriptions of review methods, yet not labeled or indexed their work as 'systematic' (Hardee and Mutunga 2010;Charlton and Arnell 2011;Kolstrom et al 2011;Hosking and Campbell-Lendrum 2012;Larsen et al 2012;Murtinho and Hayes 2012;Cheng and Berry 2013;Kamau and Mwaura 2013;McDowell 2013). In many more cases, methods are not explicitly reported at all, and it is presumed that authors have applied formal or informal thematic content analysis to extract key themes, either based on latent or manifest content analysis (Baxter and Eyles 1997).…”