The differential influence of geographic isolation on environmental migration: a study of internal migration amidst degr
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The differential influence of geographic isolation on environmental migration: a study of internal migration amidst degrading conditions in the central Pacific Hugh B Roland 1
& Katherine
J Curtis 2
# Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract This study investigates how geographic isolation interacts with declining environmental and economic conditions in Kiribati, an island nation wherein which limited access to financial resources amidst degrading environmental conditions potentially constrain capital-intensive, long-distance migration. We examine whether geographic isolation modifies the tenets of two dominant environmental migration theses. The environmental scarcity thesis suggests that environmental degradation prompts migration by urging households to reallocate labor to new environments. In contrast, the environmental capital thesis asserts that declining natural resource availability restricts capital necessary for migration. Results show that the commonly applied environmental scarcity thesis is less valid and the environmental capital thesis is more relevant in geographically isolated places. Findings indicate that geographic isolation is an important dimension along which migration differences emerge. As overall environmental and economic conditions worsen, likelihoods of out-migration from less remote islands increase whereas likelihoods of out-migration from more isolated islands decrease. Keywords Environmental migration . Geographic isolation . Climate change . Kiribati
* Hugh B Roland [email protected]
1
Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 122 Science Hall 550 North Park Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA
2
Community and Environmental Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 316B Agricultural Hall 1450 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Population and Environment
Introduction Scholars generally agree that environmental migration is driven by economic, political, demographic, social, and environmental forces, with environmental changes interacting with and shaping each of these forces (Black, Adger, Arnell, Geddes, & Thomas, 2011). However, research also demonstrates that precisely how environmental and economic influences affect migration varies spatially and by migration distance and cost (Findley, 1994; Gray, 2010; Henry, Schoumaker, & Beauchemin, 2003; Massey, Axinn, & Ghimire, 2010; Riosmena, Nawrotzki, & Hunter, 2013). According to the traditional, dominant framework known as the environmental scarcity thesis, poor environmental conditions may prompt out-migration in search of more hospitable natural environments and better livelihoods. In contrast, the environmental capital thesis asserts that resource scarcity and limited financial means associated with poor environmental conditions may actually restrict out-migration (Geest, 2011, pp. 128– 129; Hunter, Luna, & Norton, 2015; see also Gray, 2009 for similar logic though different terminology). We investigate whether geographic isolation is a significant force underlying variation in the likelihoo
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