Resettlement and relocation options for coastal communities

With a nation highly vulnerable, with a risk index of 28.57% and ranked second worldwide by the World Risk Report to be affected by disasters caused by natural hazards and to the effects of climate change, many people are ramping up plans to address these projected events. As a result, it is a necessity for Tonga to strengthen its response to climate change, continue to be more resilient, and, most importantly, address migration and human rights in the context of climate change (e.g., climigration). Here, a concurrent convergence parallel triangulation design of 460 residents from 5 coastal communities, Kanokupolu, ‘Ahau, Tukutonga, Popua, and Manuka in Tongatapu, Tonga, was used – to provide a better understanding of whether people in these communities needed a resettlement and relocation options or not. The quantitative analysis revealed that based on this sample, people in this chapter would choose Australia and New Zealand as the two most preferred countries for climigration. The same factors were explored qualitatively and found Australia to be the preferment country for climigration. Based on this result, it is recommended that a relocation and/or climigration policy should be adopted for Tonga as part of its resilient Tonga by 2035 and beyond.