Dr Fiona Miller is a senior lecturer and researcher in the Department of Geography and Planning in the Faculty of Arts. She conducts research on the social and equity dimensions of environmental change in the Asia Pacific, notably Vietnam and Cambodia, as well as Australia. Her research interests include: climate change vulnerability assessment and the social equity dimensions of adaptation; social vulnerability to environmental extremes; social and cultural dimensions of water planning; and social impact assessment and forced resettlement. She is also the Program Director for the postgraduate program in Social Impact Assessment.
To gain more insight into her research on climate change vulnerability assessment and adaptation, we asked Dr Miller a few questions.
One of the biggest challenges associated with responding to climate change and disasters is identifying who is most vulnerable to harm, where they are located, and the underlying causes of vulnerability. Such an understanding, together with an appreciation of people’s capacity and agency to respond to change, is crucial to shaping effective, equitable and sustainable responses by communities, governments and other actors. My research focuses on the role of vulnerability assessments in post-disaster recovery and climate change adaptation planning. I previously worked with Vietnamese and Cambodian researchers to look at climate change impacts and the role of vulnerability assessments in adaptation planning in the health and water sectors, where we identified a need for more locally-driven approaches to adaptation planning. I have just begun some new research investigating climate-related resettlement in Vietnam, where it has been estimated that up to 10% of the population may be displaced by sea level rise.
Through my previous research on water-related risks and climate change, as well as post-disaster recovery, I became interested in the issue of resettlement. Often resettlement occurs following severe disasters, such as tsunamis, or as part of large-scale development interventions such as dams. Unfortunately much of the research on forced resettlement demonstrates that it entails a high risk of impoverishment. It is anticipated that as the direct impacts of climate change worsen with the increasing frequency of extreme events (eg flooding) and slow-onset trends (eg sea level rise), resettlement will be ‘virtually unavoidable’.
Assessments such as social impact assessment and vulnerability assessments play a key role in adaptation planning by helping prioritise and target those communities who are most vulnerable to climate risks, and by identifying strategies that build on existing strengths, knowledge and capacities. With resettlement increasingly being considered as part of adaptation planning, the challenge facing communities and governments is how to anticipate and resolve some of the humanitarian, livelihood and ecological challenges associated with resettlement in an increasingly resource constrained and risky climate future. My research is specifically concerned with the role of assessments in resolving some of these challenges in adaptation.
My research on climate-related resettlement is at an early stage but builds on previous work I have done on vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning in Australia, Cambodia and Vietnam. I will be undertaking fieldwork in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam in early 2016 exploring current resettlement policy and practice and climate change adaptation strategies. This research will allow me to return to work with communities I worked with some 15 years ago to investigate how their adaptation practices in response to floods and water scarcity, have changed over time.
The research is developing an original theoretical framework that draws upon resilience and its attendance to multiple time scales, social-ecological relations and recovery from shocks and justice to consider procedural and distributional aspects of resettlement decision making. The research is innovative in that it seeks to address the lack of detailed ethnographic and longitudinal studies on the issue of adaptation, and aims to advance knowledge on the topic of forced resettlement in climate change adaptation.
Climate change is a major challenge confronting society. Whilst resettlement is just one adaptation response being considered, understanding the role of assessments and decision making around this response is likely to help inform other areas of adaptation planning both in Southeast Asia and here in Australia.
To gain more insight into her research on climate change vulnerability assessment and adaptation, we asked Dr Miller a few questions.
What is your current research project about?
One of the biggest challenges associated with responding to climate change and disasters is identifying who is most vulnerable to harm, where they are located, and the underlying causes of vulnerability. Such an understanding, together with an appreciation of people’s capacity and agency to respond to change, is crucial to shaping effective, equitable and sustainable responses by communities, governments and other actors. My research focuses on the role of vulnerability assessments in post-disaster recovery and climate change adaptation planning. I previously worked with Vietnamese and Cambodian researchers to look at climate change impacts and the role of vulnerability assessments in adaptation planning in the health and water sectors, where we identified a need for more locally-driven approaches to adaptation planning. I have just begun some new research investigating climate-related resettlement in Vietnam, where it has been estimated that up to 10% of the population may be displaced by sea level rise.
Why did you decide to conduct this research?
Through my previous research on water-related risks and climate change, as well as post-disaster recovery, I became interested in the issue of resettlement. Often resettlement occurs following severe disasters, such as tsunamis, or as part of large-scale development interventions such as dams. Unfortunately much of the research on forced resettlement demonstrates that it entails a high risk of impoverishment. It is anticipated that as the direct impacts of climate change worsen with the increasing frequency of extreme events (eg flooding) and slow-onset trends (eg sea level rise), resettlement will be ‘virtually unavoidable’.
Assessments such as social impact assessment and vulnerability assessments play a key role in adaptation planning by helping prioritise and target those communities who are most vulnerable to climate risks, and by identifying strategies that build on existing strengths, knowledge and capacities. With resettlement increasingly being considered as part of adaptation planning, the challenge facing communities and governments is how to anticipate and resolve some of the humanitarian, livelihood and ecological challenges associated with resettlement in an increasingly resource constrained and risky climate future. My research is specifically concerned with the role of assessments in resolving some of these challenges in adaptation.
At what stage is the research at?
My research on climate-related resettlement is at an early stage but builds on previous work I have done on vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning in Australia, Cambodia and Vietnam. I will be undertaking fieldwork in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam in early 2016 exploring current resettlement policy and practice and climate change adaptation strategies. This research will allow me to return to work with communities I worked with some 15 years ago to investigate how their adaptation practices in response to floods and water scarcity, have changed over time.
Are you applying any pioneering approaches/innovative methodologies in your research?
The research is developing an original theoretical framework that draws upon resilience and its attendance to multiple time scales, social-ecological relations and recovery from shocks and justice to consider procedural and distributional aspects of resettlement decision making. The research is innovative in that it seeks to address the lack of detailed ethnographic and longitudinal studies on the issue of adaptation, and aims to advance knowledge on the topic of forced resettlement in climate change adaptation.
What benefits does your research provide to the community?
Climate change is a major challenge confronting society. Whilst resettlement is just one adaptation response being considered, understanding the role of assessments and decision making around this response is likely to help inform other areas of adaptation planning both in Southeast Asia and here in Australia.
