Exploring (Im)Mobilities Related to Climate Change, From and For the Grassroots

Authors: Giovanna Gini (University of Oxford, United Kingdom), Hanne Wiegel (Centre for Climate and Resilience Research CR2, University of Chile), Gilles Hallé (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia), and Sandra Megens (Wageningen University, The Netherlands).

This blog emerges from the panel titled ‘Climate Change, (Im)Mobilities, and Struggles for Justice in Latin America,’ part of the SLAS2024 conference, where Hanne Wiegel (Centre for Climate and Resilience Research CR2, Chile), Giovanna Gini (University of Oxford, United Kingdom), Gilles Hallé (Javeriana University, Bogotá, Colombia), and Sandra Megens (Wageningen University, Netherlands) presented. The panel discussed various case studies from Colombia, Chile, Brazil, and Ecuador, exploring diverse processes related to climate-induced mobility.

Although the cases were diverse and different stages of the (im)mobilities cycle were discussed, the following sections present the main common points among the four presentations.

Historical and Structural Perspective

We argue that it is essential to adopt a holistic perspective in the study of human (im)mobilities linked to climate change. These mobilities do not occur in a vacuum; they are intertwined with their historical and structural context, often embedded in a long trajectory of multi-dimensional violence suffered by the most marginalized and exploited groups, such as indigenous, rural, and Afro-descendant communities.

Any notion of climate justice and (im)mobilities due to climate-environmental factors must necessarily recognize the structures that perpetuate and, moreover, exacerbate marginalization, precarization, and discrimination, such as the lack of land tenure, absence of access to basic services, lack of state compliance, and extractive projects that displace communities, among other factors. For example, a study from the Gran Chaco Americano identified climate-related (im)mobilities as a growing challenge due to water scarcity, a direct consequence of increasingly prolonged and intense drought periods. A key factor is the lack of public investment in systems that improve access to water for human consumption, livestock, and small-scale agriculture. This issue is particularly acute in the Central Chaco region, where the population faces an almost constant state of water stress due to repeated droughts.

In the Valle del Chota, located in the semi-arid north of Ecuador, Afro-descendant communities are severely affected by water scarcity, exacerbated by a lack of rainfall and prolonged droughts. These communities, descendants of enslaved Africans brought during the colonial era to work on sugarcane plantations, have been historically marginalized and face profound inequalities that limit their access to essential resources like water. This threatens not only their agricultural activities but also their heritage and cultural identity, which are closely linked to the land and water.

The gravity of this situation underscores a fundamental truth: the availability of water in adequate quality and quantity is essential for life—recognized in the Human Right to Water. Therefore, ensuring a sufficient, safe, acceptable, accessible, and affordable water supply for personal, domestic, and family agricultural use is not only a necessity but also an urgent obligation for the survival of populations affected by droughts. Only with guaranteed access to water can better adaptation to prolonged droughts be facilitated, whether to support resilient migration with higher levels of self-determination or to allow immobility under conditions of dignity and quality of life.

In another study conducted in the neighborhoods of the high hills of Medellín, Colombia, the lack of consideration and attention from local public administration to the socio-environmental and climate risks faced by marginalized, impoverished populations, often displaced due to violence from other regions of the country, has been identified. This situation occurs throughout the cycle of mobility due to environmental factors, from prevention and preparedness to recovery, reparation, mobilization, and eventual return—in other words, before, during, and after extreme climate events or wildfires. Environmental threats compound and exacerbate the situations of neglect, invisibility, and stigmatization that communities have faced since their establishment twenty years ago due to the structural violence they experienced in rural areas where they lived.

Thus, adaptation and mitigation strategies to climate change must be designed in accordance with these historical and structural issues that underlie climate vulnerability and the need for institutional support due to the limited self-financing capacity for adaptation in these communities.

Epistemic Justice

We call for recognition of the multiple knowledge systems and experiences of local and indigenous, Afro-American, peasant, and “peri-urban” communities, where knowledge accumulates over the years and is passed down from generation to generation. This accumulated knowledge, developed over generations, is often ignored in conventional studies, when in reality it offers a deep and practical understanding of the daily realities of living in communities under climate change and its effects.

An example of the existing tension between knowledge systems is the case of Enseada da Baleia in southeastern Brazil. During the relocation process, the community was guided to choose the new settlement site based on the knowledge and wisdom of the matriarch. The value of this knowledge was later validated through academic studies. Only after these studies corroborated what the matriarch had said was the new site authorized for relocation.

Moreover, in the previously mentioned case of the hills of Medellín, environmental justice cannot be advocated without a profound transformation of state institutions in how they interact with communities threatened or affected by the multiple consequences of climate change at the local level. Existing bodies, such as community action boards, women’s committees, victim committees, youth collectives, housing and habitat tables, and popular movements, lack the political will (and the articulation and efficiency that must accompany it) in favor of life and dignity.

Often, communities face rigid political logics of adaptation that do not take into account local knowledge and preferences, especially when this involves abandoning their territories. This occurred, for example, in Chile's Patagonia, where a community was ordered to relocate after a mudslide associated with extreme climate events, despite their resistance based on their own risk perceptions. This top-down logic of adaptation can result in severe consequences, such as increased mental stress, insecurity, and, in the case of resistance to these interventions, even a withdrawal of the state that may lead to increased vulnerability to the effects of climate change.

We firmly believe that any research and adaptation process must center the perceptions and preferences of those affected, respecting their right to self-determination. Only in this way can injustices and epistemic violence be avoided. Epistemic violence refers to how the knowledge, agency, and realities of communities are often dismissed or ignored, especially in contexts of climate change. Only by avoiding epistemic injustices can mobility and adaptation strategies be developed that are truly just and responsive to the needs and aspirations of the most vulnerable communities.

Self-Determination for Voluntary Immobility

Human mobility in the context of climate change cannot be understood as a single event but rather as a continuous cycle encompassing both immobility and mobility on a spectrum between the voluntary and the forced, including important aspects such as return and entrapment. This cyclical perspective focuses on the capacities of individuals and communities who often navigate between periods of staying in one place and periods of displacement, depending on the specific circumstances and challenges they face. Immobility, in many cases, cannot be seen solely as a passive option, but rather as a priority based on the self-determination of deep roots and the desire to remain in their ancestral territories and maintain their ways of life. However, these dynamics of (im)mobilities are often not recognized by governments, leading to limitations and uncertainty for populations that do not perceive progress or development options, ultimately deciding to migrate.

It is still necessary to explore in depth how and which processes lead to desired immobility (or returns). This involves understanding the strategies and actions that communities implement to remain in their territories in the face of climate change challenges, for example, before, during, and after extreme climate events. It is essential to recognize local efforts and internal dynamics that allow these populations to adapt to new climatic conditions without having to displace.

Practices That Facilitate Immobility

Furthermore, it is crucial to investigate how the right to stay and adapt to climate change is achieved from grassroots perspectives. Local communities often develop innovative solutions and practices based on their ancestral knowledge and the experience accumulated over generations. These adaptations can include modifying agricultural practices, sustainably managing natural resources, and constructing climate-resilient infrastructure. They can also involve creating social processes for integration and community strengthening.

Exploring these processes from grassroots perspectives not only sheds light on the capacities, strategies, and resilience of communities and their needs for inclusive and participatory funding and support, but it also challenges dominant narratives that often consider mobility as the only viable response to climate change. Recognizing and valuing desired immobility as legitimate adaptation strategies is a crucial step toward developing policies and programs that truly support communities in their struggle for self-determination and climate justice.

Moving Forward

Climate change presents a challenge for everyone, and especially for local and indigenous knowledge, as it alters the environmental and social conditions that these communities have learned to manage over time. To adequately address issues of mobility and immobility in this context, it is fundamental to center the perceptions and preferences of affected communities, respecting their right to self-determination and recognizing the value of their traditional knowledge and actions in the same territory. Only through an inclusive and respectful approach can effective and just strategies be developed that respond to the real needs of people on the ground and reduce the disastrous consequences of climate change and associated environmental factors in the framework of defending life and territories, whether in permanence or mobility, for nothing and no one is superfluous. We are left with the “task” of taking into account, in our own critical and situated research and interventions, these new multi-dimensional and multi-scalar challenges of (im)mobilities identified as environmental factors.