Tropentag, September 10 - 12, 2025, Bonn "Reconciling land system changes with planetary health"

In situ displacement: The intersection of immobility and dispossession

¹The Alliance of Bioversity International & CIAT, Vietnam
²Leibniz Centre for Agric. Landscape Res. (ZALF), Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries, Germany

Abstract

Referring broadly to displacement without mobility, the concept of in situ displacement is under-explored in the critical environmental mobility literature. The term has been used by anthropologists and sociologists to explore how political interventions such as land reforms or the conferment of citizenship can permanently change the way inhabitants perceive and interact with their environment. However, in situ displacement can also result from climate change and increasingly frequent or severe hazards, as they render traditional modes of production and lifestyles untenable—particularly in the Global South. Similarly, in situ displacement may occur as forced migration causes large numbers of displaced persons to move toward a discrete geographic area, rapidly transforming its long-standing social-ecological systems. These examples illustrate the wide applicability of the term by illustrating just a small number of pathways that may lead to in situ displacement.

This research employed a purposive literature review to identify relevant texts from a variety of social science disciplines, and content analysis to explore how in situ displacement has been represented in the anthropological, sociological, and geographic discourses to-date. Results demonstrate how in situ displacement both differs and overlaps with other forms of immobility, indicating that it deserves dedicated focus as an environmental mobility concept in-and-of-itself. Identified evidence gaps are then used to formulate a research agenda for in situ displacement, with a focus on knowledge generation that that prioritises technical entry points for policies, programs, and investments to empower and support affected populations. Finally, the inherent challenge of operationalizing support for the in situ displaced within a global migration system that often desires and incentivizes immobility is discussed.

Keywords: Critical geography, displacement, dispossession, environmental mobility, immobility

Contact Address: Adam Savelli, The Alliance of Bioversity International & CIAT, Hanoi, Vietnam, e-mail: a.savellicgiar.org