This research examines climate change as a driver of both displacement and immobility, emphasizing how gendered power structures shape the ability to move - or remain - under worsening environmental conditions. While much attention is paid to climate- induced displacement, this study brings forward climate immobility, a phenomenon that affects those who are unable or unwilling to leave their homes despite increasing climate risks. In Nepal, male outmigration due to economic and climate stressors has left women as the primary agents of adaptation. In rural communities like Sangrumba in eastern Nepal, women manage increasingly fragile agricultural systems and household responsibilities under rising climate pressures. Yet, their immobility is frequently constrained, shaped by patriarchal norms, insecure land rights, and limited access to credit and decision-making spaces. By foregrounding local, gendered adaptation practices, this research challenges technocratic views of adaptation as a neutral or universally accessible process. Instead, it argues that climate adaptation, when stripped of social context, can reinforce structural inequalities and render invisible the labor and knowledge of those most affected. Understanding who adapts, how, and under what constraints is essential to designing just and inclusive climate strategies. Advancing the right to adapt in place with dignity, especially for women and marginalized communities, is not just a matter of climate resilience, but one of climate justice and human rights, where the law can and must play a fundamental role.
- Beyond climate displacement: new insights on climate adaptation through the progressive recognition of the right to climate immobility
- Adriana Recalde Martínez - -, Center for Global Mountain Safeguard Research
- 2025 SOS4CC - SOcial Sciences 4 Climate Change. From Knowledge to Action (Bolzano, 04/09/2025–05/09/2025)
- (EURAC)31381284
991007269440601241 - Center for Global Mountain Safeguard Research
Center for Climate Change and Transformation - English
- Conference presentation
- none
- Scientific
- Scientific
- Recalde A