Barriers to and enablers of sustainable practices: insights from ethnic minority migrants

ABSTRACT

Migration from the Global South to Global North is a major feature of contemporary population movements, and provides a lived experiment of the implications of moving from less resource-intensive modes of living towards more resource-intensive ones. Pre-migration practices come together in complex ways post-migration with established norms and infrastructures in destination countries. Here we examine the barriers to and enablers of sustainable practices, synthesising in-depth research from nine different studies in south-eastern Australia in relation to household water use, food growing and transport. The total sample includes 323 migrants from 33 countries. The main barriers include infrastructure and broader patterns of work and society. The main enablers are cultural norms of frugality and preferences for public transport. Barriers and enablers interact in diverse ways. We show that migrants are important contributors to inadvertent sustainabilities, but their contributions may be weakened by infrastructural, structural and cultural barriers. Addressing the diverse capacities of migrants would enhance system change for everyone.

KEYWORDS:

• migration
• ethnicity
• transport
• water consumption
• food growing
• household sustainability
• qualitative research

Acknowledgements

The study was funded by the Australian Research Council (DP 140101165). This type of research would not be possible without the skills and effort of multiple community-based bilingual co-researchers and the support of institutions and community organisations that provide diverse support to migrants and refugees. We gratefully acknowledge the support provided by Louisa Welland, Min Si Thu Khin (Burmese co-researcher), Kais Al Momani (PhD, Arabic-speaking community researcher), Wafa Zaim (Arabic-speaking community researcher), Sumaya Afrin Eku (Bengali-speaking community researcher), Latifa Hekmat (Hazaragi-speaking community researcher), Eh Moo (Karenni co-researcher), Patricia Laranjeira (Portuguese interpreter), Trang Le (Vietnamese-speaking co-researcher), Kato Holani (Tongan-speaking co-researcher), Joel Sindayigaya (Swahili/Kirundi-speaking co-researcher), Zia Ibrahimi (Hazaragi-speaking co-researcher) and Paul Mbenna (Swahili speaking research assistant).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In 1989, the military government of the Union of Burma changed the official name to the Union of Myanmar to better reflect the country’s ethnic diversity and sever from the British colonial past. The United Nations accepted the name change, although those opposed to the military government questioned the imposed changes. Mindful that the act of naming is always political, this paper reflects the participants’ use of the terms “Burmese” and “Burma”.

2 Karenni people are ethnically and linguistically closely related to Karen people and are also known as Kayah, Kayin, Kayinni or Karenni which means “red Karen” and refers to traditional clothing. Most participants speak a variant of Karenni (Eastern and Western) and identify as Karenni though their ancestry is mixed with those who identify as Karen. Karenni and Karen people are often classified as “Burmese” in the Australian census, but this is likely an oversight. Participants referred to ethnic Bamar people, who are the ethno-linguistic majority in Burma/Myanmar, as Burmese. Due to ongoing historical conflict and persecution, using the term “Burmese” to refer to Karenni people is problematic.

3 At the time of migration, in the 1970s, Portugal was considered part of the Global South.

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by the Australian Research Council (DP 140101165).