Island Stories: Mapping the (im)mobility trends of slow onset environmental processes in three island groups of the Philippines

Abstract

There is an immediate lack of people-centred empirical evidence investigating how slow onset events influence human (im)mobility across the globe. This represents an important knowledge gap that makes it difficult for climate policy to safeguard vulnerable populations (whether on the move or left behind). In this study, 48 qualitative focus group discussions in the Philippines elaborated around people’s (im)mobility pathways in the context of slow onset events. The selected collective storytelling approach effectively mapped out the (im)mobility trends of 12 different origin- and destination locations involving the perceptions of 414 women and men across six provinces on Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao islands. The research findings delicately outlined people’s translocality and its interlinkage with their personal (im)mobility experiences. People described how slow onset events such as longer-term soil and water degradation often contributed to reduced livelihood sustainability that influenced their decisions to move or stay. At the very core of people’s narratives were the ways that the environmental changes and (im)mobility experiences influenced people’s wellbeing. Some people described how temporary migration could increase their social status and boost wellbeing after returning home. Others described adverse impacts on their mental health during their migration experiences due to loss of place, identity, food, and social networks. The research findings show how policy can better support those moving, hosting, or identifying as immobile, as well as where (geographically and socially) more assistance is needed.

The 2022 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: health at the mercy of fossil fuels

“…94 Climate change can also impact the mental health of populations who either choose to stay or are unable to migrate, with studies showing that mental health can be compromised by the feeling of being trapped. [95][96][97] Marginalised and vulnerable populations are often disproportionately affected by mental health impacts related to climate change, which can worsen pre-existing mental health inequalities, especially where health care is inadequate. Indigenous people may be more strongly affected by climate change-induced ecological breakdown.…”

How do population movements fit within the framework of systemic risk?

“…Secondly, population movements are so essential to the viability of our societies that any mobility restrictions create profound risks to interconnected systems in people's places of origin, transit, destination and beyond [7]. Lastly, changes to the fabric of societies are shaped by population movements and determine how disasters propagate: hazards produce impacts across the translocal networks that mobility creates and enables [3,20].…”

“…For societies that face shocks and crises, the presence of migrants and their translocal networks can be a factor for resilience and stability, as more diverse pools of (local and distant) capacities and resources support improved prevention, preparedness and recovery [33,34,46,51,58,59,82]. At the same time, translocal ties also interconnect crises: the impacts of hazards affecting migrants (and more broadly migration) are also felt across their networks, in places of origin and transit, and well beyond the directly affected areas [3,26,37,43,46,48].…”

An Urban Governance Framework for Including Environmental Migrants in Sustainable Cities

“…They are often called 'trapped populations'. A large body of work exists on the forced-voluntary continuum for immobility/non-migration, especially in the context of environmental changes [79,80,111]. Because this article focuses on including environmental migrants in sustainability for cities, reasons for city residents (often called 'hosts' in migration studies) already being there are not fully explored in this analysis, although they are and must be an integral part of the governance framework.…”

“…A key point of the vulnerability process is people's perceptions and understandings of their own situations, including migrants [79]. A key point of the sustainability process is people's perceptions and understandings of what they seek for their own situations, including migrants [80]. No knowledge form is a panacea and local knowledges have clearly identified limitations [81], with actions needed to avoid supporting vulnerabilities or undermining sustainabilities.…”