Investing in home: development outcomes and climate change adaptation for seasonal workers living between Solomon Islands and Australia

ABSTRACT

Labour migration is considered an important pathway for improving economic development in countries of origin. In recent years, labour migration, through the ‘migration as adaptation’ discourse, has been further positioned as a response to changing environmental conditions in places of high climate risk, such as the Pacific Islands region. However, limited empirical work examines whether and how labour mobility schemes enhance both development outcomes and climate change adaptation. This paper considers how temporary and circular labour migrants from Solomon Islands, who are participants in Australia’s Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP), are investing in their lives, households and villages in their country of origin in ways that contribute to development and climate change adaptation. Based on in-depth qualitative research with twelve Solomon Islander SWP participants working on citrus farms in the Mildura region, Australia, we find that investments (via funding, resources and skills) made by labour migrants contribute to development and in-situ climate change adaptation, enabling aspirations for a resilient futures in their community of origin. However, we argue climate change considerations should be formally integrated and mainstreamed into the SWP to fully enable possibilities for transformative climate change adaptation.

KEYWORDS:

• Labour mobility
• development
• circular migration
• climate change adaptation
• Solomon Islands

Acknowledgements

The research reported on in this article is funded by the Australian Research Council Linkage Project ‘Transformative human mobilities in a changing climate’ (LP170101136). The authors thank the Solomon Island seasonal workers who have given them their time and shared their stories. They are grateful for the assistance provided by Goopy Parke-Weaving, Kennedy Roga, and Rolland Sade for facilitating connections with the Solomon Island seasonal workers and/or providing language interpretation during interviews.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest is reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

2. We note that COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted the normal operation of this programme.

3. Throughout this paper, these participants are referred to variously as migrants, participants, and/or workers.

4. Choiseul, Guadalcanal, Makira, Malaita, New Georgia and Santa Isabel.

5. Approximately AU$7,000-AU$14,000 (June 2020).

6. We note this intention was articulated prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

7. The Solomon Islands Support Services Program for labour mobility is managed by Pasifiki HR and fully funded by the Australian Government.

8. The noni plant Morindacitrifolia L (Noni) ‘has been used in folk remedies by Polynesians for over 2000 years,and is reported to have a broad range of therapeutic effects’ (Wang et al., 2002, p. 1127).

9. One worker did not indicate whether he sent remittances.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Olivia Dun

Olivia Dun is a Research Fellow in the School of Geography, The University of Melbourne and the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, and is an Honorary Associate Fellow at the University of Wollongong. She is a human geographer with a background in environmental science, migration studies and international development. ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3660-6827.

Celia McMichael

Celia McMichael is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Geography, The University of Melbourne. She is a social scientist and health geographer with a research background in migration, displacement and resettlement. ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4572-602X.

Karen McNamara

Karen McNamara is an Associate Professor in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland. She is a human geographer that is broadly interested in the interactions between people’s livelihoods, development pathways and environmental change. ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4511-8403.

Carol Farbotko

Carol Farbotko is a Research Scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). A human geographer, her research interests lie at the intersection of environmental change, cultural change and human security. ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8257-2085.