Building resilience in rural communities - a focus on mobile population groups

Abstract

The idea of significant mobile populations has crept up on us. Traditionally we have thought of communities, rural communities in particular, as being somewhat staid and slow moving. Alongside ongoing primary sector changes in production and consumption, we now see an increase in mobile workers and, in the case of tourism, mobile consumers. Today most of our smaller communities are heavily dependent on these groups, be they involved in horticulture, dairy and other agriculture sectors, contractors of various forms, as tourists or serving them. As a corollary, communities and mobile groups themselves are increasingly vulnerable to extreme natural hazards and hazard events. This brief article introduces and connects with new research into the mobility of rural populations and also introduces a new resource to assist SIA practitioners and the communities they are working in, to assess and manage transience.