The first climate refugees? Contesting global narratives of climate change in Tuvalu

What these outcomes mean for different populations, however, is far less certain. Climate change is both a narrative and material phenomenon.

In so being, understanding climate change requires broad conceptualisations that incorporate multiple voices and recognise the agency of vulnerable populations. In climate change discourse, climate mobility is often characterised as the production of 'refugees', with a tendency to discount long histories of ordinary mobility among affected populations. The case of Tuvalu in the Pacific juxtaposes migration as everyday practice with climate refugee narratives.