Learning from a 43-year experience of post-disaster relocation in Anaa Atoll, French Polynesia
Abstract
Planned relocation is increasingly framed as a key adaptation strategy for addressing climate change impacts in low-lying coastal environments, particularly in atoll contexts exposed to sea-level rise. Given the potential for negative long-term outcomes and the inherently dynamic nature of relocation sites (both at origin and destination), there is a clear need for historical perspectives providing critical lessons to inform future relocation policies. This article proposes such a perspective through a 43-year longitudinal analysis of the post-disaster relocation of Tukuhora village on Anaa Atoll (French Polynesia), following its destruction by tropical cyclone Orama in 1983. Drawing on field observations, document analysis, and semi-structured interviews conducted with residents and institutional actors, this article investigates the evolving outcomes of relocation over time and across spaces. The results show that while relocation initially achieved its ambition of reducing flood risk by moving the people to a safer place and providing them cyclone-proof houses, these benefits have progressively eroded, as flood-prone areas were resettled, cyclone-proof housing deteriorated and complex land-related issues arose. Over time, planning and land-related dynamics, intersecting with broader contextual factors, generated differentiated trajectories within the relocated population and triggered persistent land conflicts and land tenure insecurity in the relocation area. These processes contributed to reconfigure patterns of exposure and vulnerability and generated several maladaptive outcomes. By adopting a long-term analytical perspective, this study highlights the limits of relocation policies conceived as one-off technical interventions.
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BibTeX
@article{girault2026learning,
title = {{Learning from a 43-year experience of post-disaster relocation in Anaa Atoll, French Polynesia}},
author = {Maëlys Girault and Virginie K.E. Duvat and Alexandre K Magnan},
journal = {International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1016/j.ijdrr.2026.106324},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05776182v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Learning from a 43-year experience of post-disaster relocation in Anaa Atoll, French Polynesia
AU - Maëlys Girault
AU - Virginie K.E. Duvat
AU - Alexandre K Magnan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/16
JO - International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
DO - 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2026.106324
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05776182v1
AB - Planned relocation is increasingly framed as a key adaptation strategy for addressing climate change impacts in low-lying coastal environments, particularly in atoll contexts exposed to sea-level rise. Given the potential for negative long-term outcomes and the inherently dynamic nature of relocation sites (both at origin and destination), there is a clear need for historical perspectives providing critical lessons to inform future relocation policies. This article proposes such a perspective through a 43-year longitudinal analysis of the post-disaster relocation of Tukuhora village on Anaa Atoll (French Polynesia), following its destruction by tropical cyclone Orama in 1983. Drawing on field observations, document analysis, and semi-structured interviews conducted with residents and institutional actors, this article investigates the evolving outcomes of relocation over time and across spaces. The results show that while relocation initially achieved its ambition of reducing flood risk by moving the people to a safer place and providing them cyclone-proof houses, these benefits have progressively eroded, as flood-prone areas were resettled, cyclone-proof housing deteriorated and complex land-related issues arose. Over time, planning and land-related dynamics, intersecting with broader contextual factors, generated differentiated trajectories within the relocated population and triggered persistent land conflicts and land tenure insecurity in the relocation area. These processes contributed to reconfigure patterns of exposure and vulnerability and generated several maladaptive outcomes. By adopting a long-term analytical perspective, this study highlights the limits of relocation policies conceived as one-off technical interventions.
SN - 2212-4209
ER -