Advancing indigenous climate mobilities governance: Vaitupu–Kioa’s cross-border Fenua

This policy brief presents a case study of Indigenous climate mobility governance, through which communities exercise authority to make decisions on how their land or other resources might or might not become available to support groups wanting to move. The focus of research is often on populations who might need to move away from sites of climate risk, but this report considers research from a receiving community perspective. t asks what might be possible when an Indigenous group considers their own territory as a potential refuge for other people, whose territory elsewhere is at risk of uninhabitability, and addresses this issue through Indigenous governance.

Some of the recommendations emerging from the study include:

• Recognise Indigenous sovereignty
• Establish a cultural heritage hub on Kioa
• Develop community-specific climate mobility plans.
• Promote the Vaitupu–Kioa case study.
• Facilitate fenua-to-vanua and similar discussions