Page - 439 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

18 LossandDamage in theRapidlyChangingArctic 439 18.4.1 RelocationandOutmigrationasAdaptationorPart ofLossandDamage? Atthemoment,itisyetuncleartowhetherrelocationisconsideredtobeanadaptation measure and thus itwouldbe integrated in states’ adaptation strategies, orwhether it is something that needs to be undertaken separately when impacts are beyond adaptation, i.e. part of the Loss andDamage agenda. As can be seen from above, manyArctic regions are highly vulnerable to climate change and there are places where adaptation is not possible for local communities. However, they are forced to abandon their livelihoods and traditional residential areas due to increased risks and lackofgovernancemechanismsand resources tomanage risks.Bronen (2015) argues thatnationstatesare required toprotectvulnerablepopulations fromclimate changeimpactswithinitsjurisdiction.Buttheliteraturerevealsthatnationstateshave often failed todoso: relocation is consideredamassivechallenge forgovernments. Ourreviewshowsthatbothperspectivesonrelocationcanbefoundin the literature. Relocations due to colonisation andnatural disasters have been experienced in the Arctic throughout the history, but now climate change also plays a more intense role as a driver of relocations and outmigration. Several studies have found that independent of the drivers of change, relocationswill have effects on culture, and maintenanceof tradition.Weillustrate thechallengesof relocationbypresentingan example fromtheAlaskanvillageKivalina, seeBox18.1. Similar issues have been experienced in the otherAlaskan regionsKing Island andShishmaref, that are also at riskof climate changeandneed toconsider reloca- tion.Relocationcanalso lead toasenseof lossofplaceandhaveemotional impacts as found in the study based onKing Islanders’ experiences (Kingston andMarino 2010). In the case of Shishmaref, Marino (2012) found that colonial history and historical inequity is linked to contemporary exposure to hazards andvulnerability ofclimatechange.Theauthoralso identifiedmis-andunder-representationof local voicesinpoliticalarenastodiscussrelocationplanning.AccordingtoBronen(2015), permanentrelocationcanbeconsideredasoneadaptationstrategyonlyifcultureand traditionscanbesecured in the long-term, so the implementationof it requiresnew governance tools.Currently existing institutionalmechanismsareoften considered inadequate andunable to determinewhenpreventive relocation is needed andhow it should be organised (Bronen 2015; seeBox 18.1). Some disaster risk reduction andadaptationprogramsdonotnecessarilyconsidermigrationstrategiesatall(Den- gler et al. 2014).Given that it appears that existingmechanisms, i.e. adaptation, is insufficient, onecould label this aspart ofLossandDamage.