Local perceptions of climate change impacts and migrationpatterns in Malé, Maldives
2017
For the last few decades, Maldives has been seen as being at
the forefront of addressing climate change impacts. The low
elevation of the islands makes them vulnerable to slow-onset
hazards, such as coastal erosion, sea-level rise, salinity
intrusion, and change in monsoon patterns and hence rainfall.
Consequently, migration has long been discussed as an
adaptation strategy for the population. This study covers
outcomes from our field research conducted among islanders in
Male, the capital of Maldives, in 2013. It contributes
empirical evidence toward understanding complex relations among
environmental challenges, climate change, and migration. We set
up two main research questions. The first question explored
islanders' perceptions of impacts of climatic variability in
recent years and possible impacts of future climate change. The
second question probed whether out-migration from the islands
might be considered to be an adaptation strategy and whether
the islanders were willing to move outside Maldives due to
projected climate change impacts. We conducted our field
research in the capital Male and nearby residential islands,
using quantitative questionnaires with local respondents
(N=347). Our results suggest that, besides a set of actually
experienced environmental and climate challenges, slow-onset
climate change impacts such as sea-level rise are perceived as
being one of the key factors affecting Maldivian society and
livelihoods. More than 50% of respondents perceive future
sea-level rise to be a serious challenge at the national level
and they accept that migration from islands to other countries
might be a potential option. Conversely, from the individual
perspective, sea-level rise is not perceived by the local
population as being one of their own important challenges. The
reason is that many other factors – cultural, religious,
economic and social – play an important role in decision making
about migrating or not.
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