Climate change and migration from atolls? No evidence yet

Abstract

People living on low-lying coral atolls are highly exposed to climate change and there is much discussion that climate change is and will increasingly force their migration. This article presents findings from a systematic literature review on climate-change migration in atolls. We found an implicit (if not explicit) assumption in the literature that migration driven by climate change is already happening, yet the literature shows no empirical evidence of this to date. The prevailing assumption that outmigration is the only option has meant there is little consideration of local adaptation options in the literature, with little attention to how people living in these places may want to adapt..