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Climate Migration and Kiribati: Discourse, Development and New Zealand’S Role in the Pacific

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Climate Migration and Kiribati: Discourse, Development and New Zealand’S Role in the Pacific Climate Migration and Kiribati: Discourse, Development and New Zealand’s Role in the Pacific New Zealand NGO, Government, and I-Kiribati Perspectives Olivia Sage Swain Eyles A Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Geography at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. December 2020 Abstract The effects of climate change are being felt globally, but especially by Pacific Island Countries (PICs) that face challenges of rising sea levels, salt-water inundation, and more extreme weather events. Conversation about climate change in this region has turned to adaptation methods, including the idea of climate change-induced migration. The discourse of ‘climate refugees’ has emerged, suggesting potential for large numbers of international migrants as PICs become uninhabitable due to climate change. As a low-lying atoll nation, the Republic of Kiribati has been placed at the forefront of this issue as an example of a state that may become uninhabitable in the future. However, notions of climate migration are complex and contested, raising a number of questions around the dominance of Western knowledge, power and discourses in climate change issues, as well as issues Justice and responsibility that arise from entire nations becoming uninhabitable. This thesis aims to explore the ongoing debate over climate change migration in the Pacific region, focusing on representations of Kiribati, the implications of these representations for the responses of Kiribati and New Zealand organisations to climate change, and what role New Zealand Government and Non- governmental Organisation (NGOs) have in these issues. This thesis uses a post-structural approach to complete a media discourse analysis of New Zealand and international news articles to uncover the dominant representations of Kiribati in relation to climate change migration and adaptation. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with New Zealand Government, involved NGOs and New Zealand I-Kiribati to provide a range of in-depth perspectives on issues and approaches to climate change migration and adaptation. The findings show that climate migration from Kiribati remains a complex and contested idea that is developing and surrounded by uncertainty. I argue there is a disconnect between representations of Kiribati in the media analysis in relation to climate migration and adaptation, compared the actual approaches by New Zealand Government and NGOs that are focused on adaptation and development through principles of partnership, with climate migration remaining a background issue that will be addressed in future if necessary. I contend that climate migration represents a more recent iteration of geographic imaginaries, framing Kiribati as ‘other’ and in need of Western assistance for its population to migrate. Contrasting these imaginaries, the approaches being taken by New Zealand in Kiribati show the nuance of these issues and suggest the role of New Zealand (and other industrialised nations) is to support Kiribati in what they request, while taking broader responsibility for emissions through climate action. ii Acknowledgements This thesis was possible thanks to the support of many of individuals and groups. To everyone who participated in this project, thank you for your willingness to share your time and your knowledge. I appreciate all the insights and experiences you shared with me, without which this project would not have been possible. I would like to say a huge thank you to my supervisor Doug Hill for your patience, encouragement and support throughout this thesis. I am grateful for the countless meetings and all the time you have put into providing detailed and insightful feedback on my work. It’s been a strange year for everyone, so your reassurance and understanding has been really appreciated. To everyone in the School of Geography, thank you for making it such a welcoming and supportive environment. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to be part of the post- grad community here. I particularly want to thank Christina Ergler for all your advice throughout my studies, and for encouraging me to pursue post-grad study. To my friends, and especially all the 5th floor post-grads, thanks for all the advice, support and motivation. Having such a great groups of friends throughout this thesis process has meant the world to me and has made my time at university a great experience. Thank you to my family for the unwavering support during this thesis Journey. I know I would not be where I am today without you all encouraging me, challenging my thinking, and keeping me grounded. Also thanks to Mum and Ariane for your proofreading. Finally, I would also like to acknowledge the University of Otago Centre for Global Migrations for the generous post-graduate research grant to fund my fieldwork, this was very appreciated. iii Table of contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................... iii List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures and Tables ................................................................................................................................. viii 1 Introduction: Climate Change Migration, Kiribati and New Zealand ......................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction: Climate Change and Pacific Island Countries ........................................................................ 1 1.2 The Republic of Kiribati: the case of climate migration .............................................................................. 6 1.3 New Zealand, Kiribati and climate migration .............................................................................................. 7 1.4 Research aim and questions .......................................................................................................................... 9 1.5 Thesis structure and overview .................................................................................................................... 10 2 Literature Review: Climate Change, Migration, Discourse, and Development ......................................... 13 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 13 2.2 Climate change and Pacific Island Countries ............................................................................................. 14 2.2.1 Mitigation and Adaptation approaches in the Pacific region .............................................................. 15 2.2.2 Approaches to Adaptation in PICs ..................................................................................................... 15 2.3 Development, climate change and Pacific Island Countries ...................................................................... 18 2.4 Climate change politics, knowledge and discourse: a post-structural approach ........................................ 21 2.5 Mobility, the Environment, and Climate Change ....................................................................................... 24 2.5.1 Environmental refugees ...................................................................................................................... 24 2.5.2 Climate Change Refugees and Migrants ............................................................................................ 26 2.5.3 Defining and differentiating between climate ‘refugees’ and climate ‘migrants’ .............................. 28 2.6 Climate Change Migration: The Proponents and Critics ........................................................................... 29 2.6.1 Climate change migration: a simple or complex issue? ..................................................................... 30 2.6.2 Definitions, Numbers and Evidence ................................................................................................... 34 2.6.3 Securitisation of climate migration ..................................................................................................... 35 2.7 Discursive Constructions of PICs and Differing Understandings of Mobility ........................................... 37 2.8 Recent shifts in Discourse: Climate Migration as adaptation .................................................................... 39 2.9 Justice, Responsibility and climate migration ............................................................................................ 42 2.10 Conclusions and research gap .................................................................................................................. 44 3 The Kiribati and New Zealand Context: Approaches to Climate Change and Development .................. 46 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 46 3.2 The Republic of Kiribati: context, development, and climate change ....................................................... 46 3.3 Climate change and Kiribati: effects, policies, and approaches ................................................................
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