Page - 383 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

Chapter16 ClimateMigrationandCultural Preservation:TheCase of theMarshalleseDiaspora AlisonHeslin Abstract Potential land loss inPacific islandcountries fromrisingsea levels raises manyconcerns regardinghownationstateswill continue to functionpoliticallyand economically in the event of climate-induced relocation of their populations. This pieceexpandsthatconversation,addressingtheimpactsofrelocationonculturalher- itage, drawingondata from interviewswithmigrants from theMarshall Islands to theUnitedStates.Thestudyseeks tounderstandthechallengesandopportunitiesof culturalpreservationamongtheMarshallesediaspora.Marshalleseaccountsoflifein theUnitedStates indicatemanyopportunities for cultural preservation, particularly for those living incommunitieswith largeMarshallesepopulations,while alsopre- senting challenges basedon social, economic, andgeographic differences between theU.S. and theMarshall Islands. Understanding themeans throughwhichMar- shallesemigrantsmaintain cultural traditions and the challenges currentmigrants face, can help us address potentially irreversible, but avoidable losses of cultural traditions in theeventofmassdisplacement. Keywords Culturalheritage ·Migration ·Non-economic losses ·Marshall islands ·Diaspora 16.1 LossesandDamages in thePacificIslands For the low-lying islands of the Pacific, climate change poses an existential risk (see also chapter byHandmer andNalau 2018). In particular, increased sea level and temperature threatens the islands and atollswith floods, erosion, groundwater degradation, and coral reef damage (Nurse et al. 2014). Under theRepresentative Concentrations Pathway (RCP) scenarios, by 2100mean sea levels will increase 0.44 m (under RCP 2.6) up to 0.74 m (under RCP8.5) with regional variations that could further increase sea levels in the Pacific (IPCC 2013). Based on these A.Heslin (B) International Institute forAppliedSystemsAnalysis (IIASA),Laxenburg,Austria e-mail: heslin@iiasa.ac.at ©TheAuthor(s)2019 R.Mechler et al. (eds.),LossandDamage fromClimateChange,ClimateRisk Management,PolicyandGovernance,https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72026-5_16 383