Assessing the relationship between climate change and human migration in the Republic of Mauritius

Abstract

Small Island States are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change such as sea-level rise and coastal erosion among others. The Republic of Mauritius is a Small Island States in the Indian Ocean with a population of approximately 1.3 million people and is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The aim of this paper is to determine if there is a need to include human migration as a climate change adaptation strategy for the Republic of Mauritius. By analyzing the literature about the impacts of climate change on the island, this research assesses the adaptation strategies that has already been implemented or will be implemented on the island. This paper also explores the relationship between other Small Island States such as Kiribati and human migration as an adaptation strategy to climate change. Some of these small islands have officially implemented migration as an adaptation strategy to climate change and this has contributed to the assessment of the need for migration in the Republic of Mauritius. While it was determined that the Republic of Mauritius has a good adaptation strategy plan, such as the development of a coastal protection plan, yet internal migration will increase due to sea-level rise, coastal erosion, and storm surges. Therefore, in order to prevent forced and unplanned migration from taking place, there remains a need to implement a more relevant strategy geographically and ecologically in relation to human migration and climate change.