Environmental immobility: A systematic review of empirical research

Abstract Environmental migration research has traditionally focused on mobility outcomes in the face of environmental change. However, the ‘trapped populations’ concept introduced in the influential Foresight Report (2011) drew attention to immobility outcomes owing to people’s inability or unwillingness to migrate away from environmentally high-risk settings. To assess the evolution of the empirical research landscape of environmental immobility, this paper systematically reviews 55 studies in terms of their thematic focus areas, theoretical and methodological concerns, geographical distribution, the interplay between environmental and societal contexts, the characterisation of immobility processes, and interrelations with mobility processes. The findings suggest a predominant focus on the causes of immobility based on a dichotomisation of immobility as ‘forced’ and ‘voluntary’. Using insights from migration theory, this paper provides a schematic framework that helps us think analytically about environmental immobility processes in terms of a continuum of choices and constraints and implications for stayers’ well-being.