Assessing the evidence: Opportunities and challenges of migration in building resilience against climate change in the Republic of Mauritius
This study analyses the prospects that migration could offer to mitigate the effects of climate change both in the short run and over the long term for the Republic of Mauritius. The migration profile of the country is multifaceted and as the population is becoming older, Mauritius will, in a decade or so, become a human capital-stressed economy. These migration dynamics must be put in perspective to encompass climate change threats besides addressing socioeconomic, political and demographic challenges.
Some of the policy recommendations that emerge from the study are as follows:
- Develop an action plan that emphasizes the restoration of degraded or potentially degradable natural capital over the long term to contain migration and sustain livelihoods.
- Institute a disaster management protocol for areas with high population density and where built-up areas fail to respond to unexpected natural hazards.
- Establish comprehensive relocation plans for highly exposed and vulnerable communities, including squatters both in coastal and urban areas, living in precarious conditions.
- Set up a framework to address the long-run sustainable livelihoods schemes with respect to internal migration and the outer islands.
- A special framework could be devised for those who have to migrate due to the degradation of the natural capital caused by climate change.
- Foster dialogues on migration management and potential migratory outcomes of natural hazards within a regional context.