International climate adaptation assistance: Assessing public support in Switzerland

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0317344 February 12, 2025 17 / 26 PLOS ONE Support for adaptation assistance in Switzerland Geographic regions and country perception The results of our baseline model in Fig 2 (which pools respondents across control and treatment groups) reveal notable differences in the favorability of climate aid and climate migration policy packages across recipient countries. Swiss respondents tend to favor policy packages for the Philippines, while they tend to disfavor policy packages for Algeria. We find indifference towards Bangladesh and Kenya. Stronger positive favorability for Bangladesh policy packages and in some instances for Kenya policy packages becomes evident in conditional effects models, which we discuss later. Results for Hypothesis 5 are thus mixed. For reference, in the Japan study, Uji et al. [26] find partial support that the public favors climate adaptation assistance to neighboring Asian countries. Specifically, they found that Japanese respondents support policy packages to Bangla- desh (but not to Cambodia) in relation to Tanzania (Africa) or Peru (Latin America). What might account for such variation among Swiss respondents in policy package favora- bility across recipient countries? As previously hypothesized, some respondents might associate the geographical location of countries with the likelihood of increased migration. For example, migrants from a geographically closer country may face lower costs of moving to Europe and

may have access to more informal routes to reach a country such as Switzerland. Consistent with Hypothesis 5, we do find that Algeria – the country closest geographically to Switzerland – as the recipient country has a significant negative effect on policy favorability. Although the Algerian community in itself is not very strongly present in Switzerland (4,152 Algerian nationals, [92]), the total number of foreign citizens from the Maghreb (i.e., Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria) is quite significant for Switzerland (around 20,000 individuals, [92]). Hence, historical immigration inflows, coupled with the proximity of Algeria to Switzerland, could partially explain this result. Furthermore, in the European context, immigration, particularly from Africa and the Mid- dle East, has become a politically salient issue. Media stories about boat crossings from North Africa are a regular feature in the news cycle, which can shape public views in this respect [93]. Studies conducted in West European countries have further suggested that immigrants from North Africa became subject to security- and cultural-threat frames in European media [71]. Moreover, France is a former colonial power in North Africa, which has shaped both migration patterns but also prejudice vis-à-vis migrants. These factors could influence per- ceptions about migration from countries such as Algeria, given the extensive land borders and linguistic connection between France and Switzerland. The favorability of policy packages containing immigration in host countries is sometimes

influenced by the perceived demographic characteristics of immigrants, such as gender, linguistic fluency, and skill level [94]. Swiss citizens potentially associate immigrants from specific countries with certain types of demographic characteristics, and this influences their favorability for overseas climate policies. At the same time, we find that Swiss respondents are indifferent regarding Kenya – also an African country and more proximate to Switzerland compared to Bangladesh and the Philippines. This could be because immigration from Kenya specifically is neither salient nor politically instrumentalized. The Kenyan community in Switzerland is quite small, with 1,853 citizens residing in Switzerland in 2022 [92], and these factors might explain the overall indif- ference of the respondents. Similarly, the South and Southeast Asia region might not be directly associated in the public mind with waves of migration as they do not receive much media attention. Moreover, unlike North Africa, the substantial distance from Asia implies a lower likelihood of climate migrants seeking shelter in Switzerland. Thus, reference to these countries does not diminish the favorability of climate policy packages. Yet, our results are mixed in this regard, as respon- dents are indifferent to Bangladesh but prefer policies aimed at the Philippines. The consistent