Twentieth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Mass migration and displacement will be the greatest human impact of climate change. Migration literature shows environmental factors have driven migration, enabling households to diversify income, find alternative livelihood options and cope with stresses. Yet popular media, and much climate literature, focused on international migration and climate-linked displacement, offers an incomplete picture suggesting migration itself is a problem. For effective and equitable policies to address migration dynamics in a changing climate, we need empirical research and analytical frameworks to understand how ecological realities intersect with economic, political and social contexts to shape migration strategies and outcomes. Our paper contributes to this goal through a study that examines the relationship between migration and household resilience in three states in climate-vulnerable India. Our survey focuses on migrant and non-migrant households in three climate-vulnerable sending districts in India, as well as on migrants in destination cities. Our findings support arguments that households use migration as an adaptive strategy to cope with livelihood uncertainties and losses, and that migration improves resilience in terms of livelihood diversification, increased earnings and ability to cope and recover from shocks. While climate-related livelihood loss and disruption influences migration decisions, decisions on whether, where and how to migrate also depends on individual and household socio-economic conditions and networks, as well external political and economic factors. Within destination cities, migrants remain vulnerable and live precariously, but have better access to basic services. We find that improved resilience through migration is not related to specific types of migration or socio-economic factors.