Current State of Affairs

Abstract

The current state of affairs for many around the globe is becoming challenging. Those feeling the effects of climate processes are already seeing the need to migrate as a way to adapt to their changing situations. Spontaneous and planned relocations are being considered across the globe. In the larger climate change discourse, displacement is slowly coming to the forefront. More scholars and policy makers are acknowledging that migration can be a positive way to adapt and that, in many cases, it is the only option. The temporal element also varies over this fragile geography: for some, this need to move is now; for others, their short-term future is in jeopardy. But the long-term future is bleak for many. This section will highlight several of the geographical areas in which people and communities are already being displaced, both within and outside national borders. Each example represents the difficulties many are facing in the attempt to acquire new land through complicated negotiations with local and national governments as well as NGOs. Cases which highlight the need for displacement solutions include the similar situations of the Carteret Islands, Kiribati, and Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean and of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. These islands and their situations are the best known and detailed in the media as well as in academic writing.