Climate change displacement: towards ontological security

Abstract

Climate change displacement is often described as an existential threat, a term that attempts to capture the social, physical, political, and cultural gravity of inhabited areas becoming uninhabitable from impacts of climate change. This paper considers narratives of existential threat as a call for more research into ontological security. Ontological security need not be considered a concept separate from adaptation policy and practice, although currently it is not recognised as a risk that can be reduced or managed. Indeed, a policy gap looms w hen ‘existential threats’ of climate change displacement are presumed to be unsolvable. Furthermore, there is very little understanding of what might advance ontological security among already displaced people, and the many more who are at risk of displacement and are aware of the risk. This paper discusses ontological insecurity and ontological security, through an exploration of voluntary immobility in Pacific Island communities grappling with climate change impacts to territory. It explores how voluntary immobility may advance ontological security in the Pacific Islands in the face of these impacts. The paper concludes that ‘existential threats’ associated with climate change displacement can and should be more widely addressed by policies and planning processes that recognise and advance ontological security.