Circular Migration as Climate Change Adaptation: Reconceptualising New Zealand´s and Australia’s Seasonal Worker Programs

Abstract

This paper looks into an aspect of adaptation, namely the role of the circular migration as climate change adaptation. It focuses on two of the Pacific region’s recently well -known seasonal labor schemes, Namely Australia’s Seasonal Workers Program (SWP) and New Zealand ‘s recognized Seasonal Employer Scheme (RSE), and asks if beyond the current goals the schemes May be reconceptualsed as adaptation programs responsive not only towards developmental and economic Concerns but the wider (and interconnected With the first two) climate change challenges. According to MacDermott and Opeskin, labor mobility schemes, for the sending country focus on the “development perspective “such as (a) Employment Opportunities, (b) Regular benefits of Remittances and (c) skills enhancement, while receiving countries country can meet the challenges posed by labor shortages in seasonal industries where “a reliable workforce is lacking”.