Preferences for in-place and relocated living among climate-vulnerable communities in Fiji: a discrete choice experiment

Duncan Mortimer (), Rohan Sweeney (), Amelia Turagabeci () and Sepesa Rasili ()
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Duncan Mortimer: Centre for Health Economics, Monash Business School, Monash University, Australia
Rohan Sweeney: Centre for Health Economics, Monash Business School, Monash University, Australia
Amelia Turagabeci: College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Fiji National University
Sepesa Rasili: Consultant & Fiji Council of Social Services member

No 2026-04, Working Papers from Centre for Health Economics, Monash University

Abstract: Climate change is forcing difficult choices between in-place adaptation and relocation for Pacific Island communities, yet policy responses often rely on participatory planning frameworks that privilege louder voices or implicitly assume a consensus of preferences. We surveyed 476 adults across 25 at- risk Fijian villages using a discrete choice experiment to understand how individuals evaluate trade- offs between alternative future living arrangements, including location, services, housing, income opportunities, climate risk, and cultural connection. Our analysis identifies three distinct preference types—movers, stayers, and adapters—with sometimes conflicting priorities. While movers and adapters are generally willing to relocate to climate-resilient locations, stayers prefer to remain in their existing villages even in the absence of significant adaptation investment. These divergent preferences reveal relocation and in-place adaptation as spatially constrained and contested choices. Uncoordinated household-level decisions by movers and adapters risk redistributing rural populations across to urban centres and fragmenting communities. Preservation of connection to community and place may therefore require deliberate coordination and compromise at the community level, including the design of new climate-resilient settlements that accommodate the preferences of stayers. Recognising heterogeneous preferences and the limits of consensus-based participation is essential for designing community adaptation pathways that are socially, culturally, and spatially just and acceptable.

Keywords: climate change adaptation; climate-induced relocation; Pacific Island communities; community preferences; discrete choice experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D71 O15 Q51 Q54 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dcm
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