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Disentangling the concepts of global climate change, adaptation, and human mobility: a political-ecological exploration in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta

Bayrak, Mucahid Mustafa ORCID: 0000-0001-7699-5575, Marks, Danny ORCID: 0000-0003-0833-880X and Hauser, Leon T. ORCID: 0000-0003-1408-9942 (2022) Disentangling the concepts of global climate change, adaptation, and human mobility: a political-ecological exploration in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. Climate and Development . ISSN 1756-5529

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Abstract

The complex relationship between human mobility and global climate change remains contested. In this viewpoint, the themes of human mobility, adaptation and climate change are explored from a political ecology perspective. A framework of political ecology of human mobility in relation to climate change is applied to the context of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta (MKD). The Vietnamese government, popular media and academic studies often present the MKD in dystopian ways in which there is sometimes no more place for poor and landless farmers as a direct result of climate change. In 2019 and 2020, the MKD faced one of its most severe droughts in recent history largely tied to upstream hydropower development. In this viewpoint article, we contend that future studies can no longer establish a direct and causal relationship between climate change and human mobility, especially in light of these recent events. The underlying drivers as well as the broader context, which are shaped by political economy, market structures and forces, power relations, government policy, geopolitics, and transboundary water issues deserve a more prominent role in the analysis of human mobility patterns in the MKD and beyond.

Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:political ecology; human mobility; adaptation regimes; Mekong Delta; climate change; environmental migration
Subjects:Social Sciences > Political science
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Science > School of Law and Government
Publisher:Taylor and Francis
Official URL:https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2022.2028596
Copyright Information:© 2022 Taylor and Francis (CC-BY-NC-ND)
Funders:Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (MOST 110-2636-H-003-007), Utrecht University’s Water, Climate and Future Deltas Hub
ID Code:26668
Deposited On:01 Feb 2022 15:29 by Daniel Marks . Last Modified 01 Feb 2022 15:29

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