City Research Online

Abstract

In response to the challenge of climate change developing country governments are evolving adaptation and mitigation programmes for which they are seeking international financing. This article presents the findings of a review of national action programmes and other interventions to assess their likely societal impacts with an emphasis on land-use change, future land acquisitions, population displacement and resettlement. Evidence presented suggests there is likely to be additional and large scale resettlement related to adaptation and mitigation investments in the coming decades. It describes such climate change related projects as infrastructure development projects and the population displacement they may generate as a form of development-created involuntary resettlement. The article considers the policy and development challenges such involuntary resettlement will pose and assesses the robustness of currentgovernance arrangements to manage that resettlement. It is argued that the UNFCCC process presents opportunities for improving the national and international management of land acquisition and resettlement particularly in LDCs and Small Island States but cautions that at present the financing arrangements do not prioritise the legal protection of affected populations.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is the accepted version of the following article: McDowell, C. (2013), Climate-Change Adaptation and Mitigation: Implications for Land Acquisition and Population Relocation. Development Policy Review, 31: 677–695, which has been published in final form at http://dx,doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12030
Publisher Keywords:	climate change, adaptation, displacement, involuntary resettlement
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology Q Science > QC Physics
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs > International Politics
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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