Migration as a mode of adaptation to extreme climate events, natural disasters and environmental change

The primary objective of this research is to examine the determinants of two important aspects of change occurring in indigenous populations: the adoption of non-farm employment (often referred to as livelihood diversification) and out-migration. Non-farm employment and out-migration may have unforeseen impacts, both positive and negative, on families, communities, and resource management institutions, and as such on the well-being of indigenous people and their lands. This research addresses the question, “What are the individual, household, and contextual factors that lead indigenous households to decide to diversify livelihoods and participate in non-farm employment, or to have a member of the household move away temporarily or permanently?” The research draws upon livelihoods and migration theories to examine population mobility among the indigenous. Household and community survey data and multi-level models are employed to make inferences about determinants of these important behaviors and their link to future resource use and livelihoods in the Amazon.

In the West African Sahel, the majority of the population depend on subsistence or small-scale farming and are thus particularly vulnerable to environmental changes. One possible response to environmental changes is migration. However, the impact of environmental changes on migration remains unclear since migration is considered a multi-causal phenomenon. Whether people choose migration as an adaptation strategy to environmental change depends on their vulnerability to these changes, their capabilities and preferences.
This paper addresses the issue of environmentally induced migration as an adaptation strategy and its links to social vulnerability by using the example of education and gender as important indicators of social vulnerability. The research focuses on two areas in the West African Sahel – Bandiagara in Mali and Linguère in Senegal – that are presumed to be particularly affected by climate variability and environmental degradation. We illustrate that people’s motives of and capabilities for migration differ considerably between gender and the level of education and show under which social-ecological conditions migration constitutes an important adaptation strategy to environmental changes.

Ecological Migration Project conducted since 2004 by Qinghai Government which aims to protect the worsening environmental situation in Sanjiangyuan Area. Based on the questionnaire survey data in Kunlun Immigrants Village in the suburb of Golmud City, using Cernea's impoverishment risks and reconstruction (IRR) model, this paper analyzed the risks that the migrants may face in the process of resettlement and reconstruction. Besides, environmental risk is also added to the evaluation framework to fit the environmental migration context. The results showed that some risks decreased after the migration (such as homelessness, food insecurity, increased morbidity, loss of access to common property resources and community disarticulation), while some risks are increased (landlessness, joblessness and marginalization). For environmental effect is not time to draw a conclusion yet and need a long term observation. Some policy implications are posed out to improve the process of project planning and policy making.

In this study, we analyze the effects of climate changes on migration through a conceptual analysis applied to a specific case study. In the first part, we conduct a conceptual analysis by integrating demographic/social sciences models of migration with models and information derived from climate sciences. In the second part, we conduct an empirically driven analysis on the case of Senegal. A developing country, with a relatively large diaspora, Senegal is expected to experience sea level increase, changes in temperature and precipitation due to climate changes. To estimate the changes in temperature and precipitation we use Climate Wizard at 0.5 degrees with all available models and the three scenarios downscaled at the country level. For sea level increases, we use Vermeer and Rahmstorf (2009) global estimates for upper/lower limits combined with an estimate of local subsidence for Senegal. In order to estimate a migration model, we use World Bank survey on migration and remittances in Senegal (2009).

In the last decades disasters related to natural events, especially climatic events like hurricanes, droughts and floods have increased almost all around the world, causing great human economic, social and environmental damages mostly in the poor and very populous countries. The relationship between ‘natural disasters’ and migration or displacement has become an important issue in the population studies and public policies agenda. In Latin America where around 80% of the population live in cities the problem with urban water and disaster has become a critical issue for the local and national governments. In large metropolitan areas in Brazil one of the measures adopted by the governments to deal with people affected by disasters is the resettlement in new peripheral areas, usually with poor infrastructure. Given this context the article aims at analyzing the relationship between disasters related to natural events and displacement. The research consists in a case study in Belo Horizonte Metropoltian Area, Brazil that compares two vulnerable populations affected by disasters, one of which has been resettled by the local government. The method chosen is social network analysis which seeks to identify and analyze how the displacement has altered the structure of the social ties of these populations.

Due to the continues incessant impacts of climate change in Africa resulted in the incessant drying of rivers especially those feeder rivers supplying over 90 % of the Lake water like the River Shari in the republic of Cameroon and the river Yobe in Nigeria this trend has resulted those community living along the courses or banks of these feeder rivers to be blocking the rivers from supplying the water in to the Lake while trying to adapt to the impacts of climate change situation by building Dams along these feeder rivers in quest of water for their irrigational activities as well as other activities like the generation of Hydro electric city and other relevant activities. This situation has resulted in the reduction of the water of the Lake to just 1800 km square.
However due to the negative impacts of the ongoing climate change in this region many of the farmers discovered that the best option for farming in the region under this scenario is to always farm along the shores of the lake this resulted in to a situation whereby the farmers legalized their occupancies of these shores of the lake which they call their lands through purchase under customary laws that are not recognized by the fishing communities as a result the farmers are preventing the fishermen permanently from fishing.

The Fourth Assessment Report published in 2007 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has emerged as a landmark in the discussion of climate change, by emphasizing the importance of understanding the past as key to predicting the future. The scenarios of global average temperature rise cause the melting of glaciers and thus the sea level elevation, indicated on the report, and shows important consequences for population and environmental dynamics of coastal zones around the world. This paper presents a discussion about the possible risks and effects of global environmental change on the components of population dynamics, such as the spatial redistribution of the population and it seeks to analyze how do population dynamics and its characteristics influences the response capacity and the vulnerability of groups exposed to environmental hazards, also in terms of adaptation. In this case, the age composition of the population and family structure is an important aspect to be considered as significant assets of social groups, and also the spatial population redistribution due to the migration process. The example of Brazilian coastal zone will be used to shows the complexity of the effects of global environmental change on coastal zones.

This paper examines the extent to which migration has been used as an adaptation strategy in response to climatic-related events in the forest-savannah transition zone of Ghana. Using a mix method approach with data from the Climate Change Collective Learning and Observatory Network Ghana (CCLONG) project, the paper employed a descriptive method approach to examine how migration has been used as a livelihood strategy in response to climate-related environmental events. The results indicate previous experience of drought and floods did not trigger out-migration from the study communities. However, the gradual decline in the fertility of the soil coupled with the erratic rainfall is pushing families to opt for something different from farming as their main source of livelihood by encouraging the youth to migrate to cities for alternative jobs. The study concludes that sudden environmental events like flooding may not necessarily trigger out-migration but slow changes such as desertification and decline in soil fertility could lead to mass migration if people reach a point where their coping strategies are not able to help them cope with the situation.

Increasingly, the field of migration has become interested in understanding the links between migration and environmental distress—to what extent these links exist, how they manifest, and what might mediate them. Using nationally representative data from the Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey in 2009, this paper explores the impact of environmental shocks on international migration from Cambodia. First, the paper uses multi-level modeling to assess the extent to which village experiences of drought, flood, and crop failure in 2008 are associated with household incidence of international migration in the following year. The paper then explores how these patterns differ by household characteristics. In particular it considers how local environmental shocks interact with household experience of crop loss to better understand whether migration responses to environmental distress are related to direct income loss or are broader responses to increased vulnerability. By disaggregating the importance of environmental shocks among households who experience varying degrees of loss as a result, it contributes to a more complex understanding of how floods, drought, and crop loss at a village level interact with household-level characteristics to influence patterns of international migration.

This study explores and analyzes different local factors influencing environmental and socio-economic change to drive migration in the coastal Bangladesh. Local people have been interviewed in-depth to explore the context and how they perceive it from their actual experiences. The study finds that the agricultural transformation has caused ecological disaster in the area due to salinity intrusion and shrimp farming leading to significant environmental transformation and threats to local resilience. Reduction of household resilience has shifted away vulnerable people to move outside territory ranging from one week to a maximum of six months as seasonal migrants which is a common trend for a long time for some people to strengthen household capital and savings as adaptation choice when regular employment is not available. People have little understanding of whether such environmental changes are linked to climate change or not but they emphasize man-made interventions and natural disasters. Climate change is a fact but in the present case of migration it only exacerbates an already existing problem. This influences people to migrate temporarily to increase their household resilience/capital from outside and can be considered to be an alternative livelihood strategy or adaptation choice if other local options fail.