New research on climate adaptation in the Philippines

La Trobe Asia, the Centre for Human Security and Social Change, and the Climate Change Adaptation Lab at La Trobe University are collaborating on climate change research supported by La Trobe University's Targeted Research Excellence Scheme.

The project, led by Associate Professor Brooke Wilmsen (Anthropology) and Professor Bec Strating, aims to examine how coastal populations in the Philippines adopt, circumvent, and hybridise the government’s responses to climate change - such as seawalls and mass relocation - to negotiate their own “lived security.”

"The Philippines has long employed strategies such as seawalls and mass relocation to address the more extreme effects of climate change," says Professor Strating. "By examining the social responses to environmental change, we can gain a better understanding of the social impact and everyday security practices."

"It's exciting to have the opportunity to build on our existing project of examining climate gentrification in the south of Philippines," says Associate Professor Wilmsen. "These problems are often spoken about in terms of the big cities in global North, but across Asia they are relevant issues that people are living with on a daily basis.

The project builds on published research from Associate Professor Wilmsen and her colleagues from Ateneo de Manila University, Visayas State University, and the University of Sydney. It will lay the foundation for future research.