Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Why populations persist: mobility, place attachment and climate change

Population and Environment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Explanations of relationships between migration and environmental change now focus on multiple interactions, risks in destination and immobility. This research applies behavioural migration theory to examine the extent to which immobile populations experiencing environmental degradation exercise agency with respect to location and, in doing so, elucidates what it means to be trapped. This research uses individual survey data from a migrant-sending area in highland Peru where the population experiences negative health and livelihood impacts from climate-related phenomena. Analysis of these data reveals three reasons for non-migration: high levels of satisfaction, resource barriers and low mobility potential. Immobility in dissatisfied people is more likely to be caused by attachment to place than resource constraints. Thus, the results suggest that trapped populations exist along a continuum. This highlights the need for policy responses differentiated by the mobility characteristics and preferences of the individual. Caution, therefore, must be exercised when labelling populations as trapped and promoting relocation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams, H., & Adger, W. N. (2013a). Changing places: Migration and adaptation to climate change. In L. Sygna, K. O′Brien, & J. Wolf (Eds.), The Changing environment for human security: Transformative approaches to research, policy, and action (pp. 413–423). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adams, H. & Adger, W. N. (2013b). The contribution of ecosystem services to place utility as a determinant of migration decision-making. Environmental Research Letters, 8(1), 015006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adger, W. N., Barnett, J., Chapin, F. S., & Ellemore, H. (2011). This must be the place: Underrepresentation of identity and meaning in climate change decision-making. Global Environmental Politics, 11(2), 1–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adger, W. N., Pulhin, J. M., Barnett, J., Dabelko, G. D., Hovelsrud, G. K., Levy, M., et al. (2014). Human security. In C. B. Field, V. R. Barros, D. J. Dokken, K. J. Mach, M. D. Mastrandrea, T. E. Bilir, et al. (Eds.), Climate change 2014: Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part A: Global and sectoral aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (pp. 755–791). Cambridge and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

  • Afifi, T., & Jäger, J. (2010). Environment, forced migration and social vulnerability. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Agyeman, J., Devine-Wright, P., & Prange, J. (2009). Close to the edge, down by the river? Joining up managed retreat and place attachment in a climate changed world. Environment and Planning A, 41(3), 509–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Albrecht, G., Sartore, G.-M., Connor, L., Higginbotham, N., Freeman, S., Kelly, B., et al. (2007). Solastalgia: The distress caused by environmental change. Australasian Psychiatry, 15(1), S95–S98. doi:10.1080/10398560701701288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Altman, I., & Low, S. M. (1992). Place attachment. Berlin: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bardsley, D. K., & Hugo, G. J. (2010). Migration and climate change: Examining thresholds of change to guide effective adaptation decision-making. Population and Environment, 32, 238–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, J., & Webber, M. (2010). Migration as adaptation: Opportunities and limits. In J. McAdam (Ed.), Climate change and displacement: Multidisciplinary perspectives (pp. 37–56). Oxford: Hart Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Begum, R. (1993). Women in environmental disasters: The 1991 cyclone in Bangladesh. Gender & Development1(1), 34–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkes, F., & Ross, H. (2013). Community resilience: Toward an integrated approach. Society and Natural Resources, 26(1), 5–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black, R., Adger, W. N., Arnell, N. W., Dercon, S., Geddes, A., & Thomas, D. (2011a). The effect of environmental change on human migration. Global Environmental Change, 21(Suppl. 1), S3–S11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black, R., Adger, W. N., Arnell, N. W., Geddes, A., & Thomas, D. (2013). Migration, immobility and displacement outcomes of extreme events in nature and society. Environmental Science & Policy, 27(Supp1), S32–S43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black, R., Kniveton, D., & Schmidt-Verkerk, K. (2011b). Migration and climate change: Towards an integrated assessment of sensitivity. Environment and Planning A, 43(2), 431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boschman, S., Kleinhans, R., & van Ham, M. (2014). Ethnic differences in realising desires to leave the neighbourhood. Institute for the Study of Labour Discussion Paper Series, No. 8461, Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit, Bonn.

  • Bronen, R., & Chapin, F. S, I. I. I. (2013). Adaptive governance and institutional strategies for climate-induced community relocations in Alaska. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100(23), 9320–9325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, L. A., & Moore, E. G. (1970). The intra-urban migration process: A perspective. Geografiska Annaler. Series B Human Geography, 52(1), 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, B. B., & Perkins, D. D. (1992). Disruptions in place attachment. In I. Altman & S. M. Low (Eds.), Place attachment (pp. 279–304). Berlin: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bury, J. T., Mark, B. G., McKenzie, J. M., French, A., Baraer, M., Huh, K. I., et al. (2011). Glacier recession and human vulnerability in the Yanamarey watershed of the Cordillera Blanca, Peru. Climatic Change, 105(1–2), 179–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cernea, M., & McDowell, C. (2000). Risks and reconstruction. Experiences of resettlers and refugees (pp. 11–55). Washington: World Bank.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • De Jong, G. F., & Fawcett, J. T. (1981). Motivations for migration: An assessment and a value-expectancy research model. In G. F. De Jong & R. W. Gardner (Eds.), Migration decision making: Multidisciplinary approaches to microlevel studies in developed and developing countries (pp. 13–58). New York: Pergamon.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Deshingkar, P. (2012). Environmental risk, resilience and migration: Implications for natural resource management and agriculture. Environmental Research Letters, 7(1), 015603. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/7/1/015603.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feng, S., Krueger, A. B., & Oppenheimer, M. (2010). Linkages among climate change, crop yields and Mexico-US cross-border migration. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(32), 14257–14262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Florida, R., Mellander, C., & Stolarick, K. (2011). Beautiful places: The role of perceived aesthetic beauty in community satisfaction. Regional Studies, 45(1), 33–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foresight. (2011). Migration and global environmental change. London: UK Government Office for Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fresque-Baxter, J. A., & Armitage, D. (2012). Place identity and climate change adaptation: A synthesis and framework for understanding. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 3(3), 251–266.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fussell, E., Sastry, N., & Van Landingham, M. (2010). Race, socioeconomic status, and return migration to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Population and Environment, 31(1–3), 20–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gemenne, F. (2010). What’s in a name: Social vulnerabilities and the refugee controversy in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In T. Afifi & J. Jager (Eds.), Environment, forced migration and social vulnerability (pp. 29–40). Berlin: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gray, C. L. (2010). Gender, natural capital, and migration in the southern Ecuadorian Andes. Environment and Planning A, 42(3), 678–696.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grothmann, T., & Patt, A. (2005). Adaptive capacity and human cognition: The process of individual adaptation to climate change. Global Environmental Change, 15(3), 199–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, J. R., & Todaro, M. P. (1970). Migration, unemployment and development: A two-sector analysis. The American Economic Review, 60(1), 126–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henry, S., Schoumaker, B., & Beauchemin, C. (2004). The impact of rainfall on the first out-migration: A multi-level event-history analysis in Burkina Faso. Population and Environment, 25(5), 423–460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hess, J., Malilay, J., & Parkinson, A. J. (2008). Climate change: The importance of place. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 35(5), 468–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hummon, D. (1992). Community attachment. Local sentiment and sense of place. In I. Altman & S. M. Low (Eds.), Place attachment (pp. 253–277). Berlin: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, L. M. (2005). Migration and environmental hazards. Population and Environment, 26, 273–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kley, S. (2011). Explaining the stages of migration within a life-course framework. European Sociological Review, 27(4), 469–486.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kniveton, D. R., Smith, C. D., & Black, R. (2012). Emerging migration flows in a changing climate in dryland Africa. Nature Climate Change, 2, 444–447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kniveton, D., Smith, C., & Wood, S. (2011). Agent-based model simulations of future changes in migration flows for Burkina Faso. Global Environmental Change, 21(1), S34–S40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, E. S. (1966). A theory of migration. Demography, 3(1), 47–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewicka, M. (2011a). Place attachment: How far have we come in the last 40 years? Journal of Environmental Psychology, 31(3), 207–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewicka, M. (2011b). On the varieties of people’s relationships with places Hummon’s typology revisited. Environment and Behavior, 43(5), 676–709.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewicka, M. (2013). In search of roots. In L. C. Manzo & P. Devine-Wright (Eds.), Place attachment: Advances in theory, methods and applications (pp. 49–60). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lonergan, S. (1998). The role of environmental degradation in population displacement. Environmental change and security project report, 4(6), 5–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marino, E. (2012). The long history of environmental migration: Assessing vulnerability construction and obstacles to successful relocation in Shishmaref. Alaska. Global Environmental Change, 22(2), 374–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mark, B. G., Bury, J., McKenzie, J. M., French, A., & Baraer, M. (2010). Climate change and tropical Andean glacier recession: Evaluating hydrologic changes and livelihood vulnerability in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 100(4), 794–805.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, N. A., Park, S. E., Adger, W. N., Brown, K., & Howden, S. M. (2012). Transformational capacity and the influence of place and identity. Environmental Research Letters, 7(3), 034022. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/7/3/034022.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, M., Billah, M., Siddiqui, T., Abrar, C., Black, R., & Kniveton, D. (2014). Climate-related migration in rural Bangladesh: A behavioural model. Population and Environment, 36(1), 85–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D. S., Axinn, W. G., & Ghimire, D. J. (2010). Environmental change and out-migration: Evidence from Nepal. Population and Environment, 32(2), 109–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNamara, K. E., & Gibson, C. (2009). ‘We do not want to leave our land’: Pacific ambassadors at the United Nations resist the category of climate refugees. Geoforum, 40(3), 475–483.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mellander, C., Florida, R., & Stolarick, K. (2011). Here to stay—The effects of community satisfaction on the decision to stay. Spatial Economic Analysis, 6(1), 5–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milan, A., & Ho, R. (2013). Livelihood and migration patterns at different altitudes in the Central Highlands of Peru. Climate and Development, 6(1), 69–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milan, A., & Ruano, S. (2014). Rainfall variability, food insecurity and migration in Cabricán, Guatemala. Climate and Development, 6(1), 61–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, P. A. (1972). Theoretical issues in the design of population mobility models. Environment and Planning, 5, 125–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mortreux, C., & Barnett, J. (2009). Climate change, migration and adaptation in Funafuti, Tuvalu. Global Environmental Change, 19(1), 105–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mostowska, M. (2014). Homelessness abroad: “place utility” in the narratives of the Polish homeless in Brussels. International Migration, 52(1), 118–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pelling, M., & High, C. (2005). Understanding adaptation: What can social capital offer assessments of adaptive capacity? Global Environmental Change, 15(4), 308–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Penning-Rowsell, E. C., Sultana, P., & Thompson, P. M. (2013). The ‘last resort’? Population movement in response to climate-related hazards in Bangladesh. Environmental Science & Policy, 27(1), S44–S59. doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2012.03.009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pérez, C., Nicklin, C., Dangles, O., Vanek, S., Sherwood, S., Halloy, S., et al. (2010). Climate change in the high Andes: Implications and adaptation strategies for small-scale farmers. The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability, 6(5), 71–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piguet, É. (2013). From “primitive migration” to “climate refugees”—The curious fate of the natural environment in migration studies. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 103(1), 148–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piguet, É., Pécoud, A., & de Guchteneire, P. (2011). Migration and climate change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Portes, A. (1998). Social capital: Its origins and applications in modern sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 1–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quigley, J. M., & Weinberg, D. H. (1977). Intra-urban residential mobility: A review and synthesis. International Regional Science Review, 2(1), 41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scudder, T. (2005). The future of large dams: Dealing with social, environmental, institutional and political costs. London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seto, K. C. (2011). Exploring the dynamics of migration to mega-delta cities in Asia and Africa: Contemporary drivers and future scenarios. Global Environmental Change, 21, S94–S107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shen, S., & Gemenne, F. (2011). Contrasted views on environmental change and migration: The case of Tuvaluan migration to New Zealand. International Migration, 49(s1), e224–e242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Speare, A, Jr. (1974). Residential satisfaction as an intervening variable in residential mobility. Demography, 11(2), 173–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stedman, R. C. (2002). Toward a social psychology of place predicting behavior from place-based cognitions, attitude, and identity. Environment and Behavior, 34(5), 561–581.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stedman, R. C. (2003). Is it really just a social construction? The contribution of the physical environment to sense of place. Society & Natural Resources: An International Journal, 16(8), 671–685.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tacoli, C. (2009). Crisis or adaptation? Migration and climate change in a context of high mobility. Environment and Urbanization, 21(2), 513–525.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tschakert, P., & Tutu, R. (2010). Solastalgia: Environmentally induced distress and migration among Africa’s poor due to climate change. In T. Afifi & J. Jager (Eds.), Environment, forced migration and social vulnerability (pp. 57–69). Berlin: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Twigger-Ross, C. L., & Uzzell, D. (1996). Place and identity processes. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 16, 205–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Urrutia, R., & Vuille, M. (2009). Climate change projections for the tropical Andes using a regional climate model: Temperature and precipitation simulations for the end of the 21st century. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres (1984–2012). doi:10.1029/2008JD011021.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valdivia, C., Seth, A., Gilles, J. L., García, M., Jiménez, E., Cusicanqui, J., et al. (2010). Adapting to climate change in Andean ecosystems: Landscapes, capitals, and perceptions shaping rural livelihood strategies and linking knowledge systems. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 100(4), 818–834.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vuille, M., Francou, B., Wagnon, P., Juen, I., Kaser, G., Mark, B. G., & Bradley, R. S. (2008). Climate change and tropical Andean glaciers: Past, present and future. Earth-Science Reviews, 89(3), 79–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warner, K., & Afifi, T. (2014). Where the rain falls: Evidence from 8 countries on how vulnerable households use migration to manage the risk of rainfall variability and food insecurity. Climate and Development, 6(1), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, S. E. (1980). Awareness, preference, and interurban migration. Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, 10(20), 71–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, M., & Lindstrom, D. (2005). Internal migration. In D. L. Poston & M. Micklin (Eds.), Handbook of population (pp. 311–346). Berlin: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, A. M., & Baláž, V. (2014). Mobility, risk tolerance and competence to manage risks. Journal of Risk Research, 17(8), 1061–1088.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, J., Adger, W. N., Lorenzoni, I., Abrahamson, V., & Raine, R. (2010). Social capital, individual responses to heat waves and climate change adaptation: An empirical study of two UK cities. Global Environmental Change, 20, 44–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolpert, J. (1965). Behavioral aspects of the decision to migrate. Papers in Regional Science15(1), 159–169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to the residents of Huarochirí, Lima, Peru, who agreed to participate in the study and to Julia Atencio Venegas, Luz Atencio Venegas and Violeta Lazo for their field assistance. Thanks also to W. Neil Adger and two anonymous reviewers for comments provided on earlier versions of the manuscript. The research was funded by a UK Economic and Social Research Council studentship.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Helen Adams.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Adams, H. Why populations persist: mobility, place attachment and climate change. Popul Environ 37, 429–448 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-015-0246-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-015-0246-3

Keywords

Navigation