Climate Change, Vulnerability and Migration

320 Pages·2017·1.682 MB·English

by  S. Irudaya Rajan and R. B. Bhagat

Climate Change, Vulnerability
and Migration
This book highlights how climate change has affected migration in the
Indian subcontinent. Drawing on fi eld research, it argues that extreme
weather events such as fl oods, droughts, cyclones, cloudbursts as well
as sea level rise, desertifi cation and declining crop productivity have
shown higher frequency in recent times and have depleted biophysical
diversity and the capacity of the ecosystem to provide food and liveli-
hood security. This volume shows how the socio-economically poor
are worst affected in these circumstances and resort to migration to
survive.
The chapters in this volume study the role of remittances sent by
migrants to their families in environmentally fragile zones in providing
an important cushion and adaptation capabilities to cope with extreme
weather events. This book looks at the socio-economic and political
drivers of migration, different forms of mobility, mortality and mor-
bidity levels in the affected population, and discusses mitigation and
adaption strategies.
This volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers
of environment and ecology, migration and diaspora studies, devel-
opment studies, sociology and social anthropology, governance and
public policy and politics.
S. Irudaya Rajan is Professor, Centre for Development Studies, Thiru-
vananthapuram, Kerala, India. With more than three decades of
research experience, he has coordinated with K. C. Zachariah seven
major migration surveys in Kerala since 1998, conducted migration
surveys in Goa (2008) and Tamil Nadu (2015) and provided technical
support to Gujarat (2010) and Punjab (2011) migration surveys. He is
editor of the annual series ‘India Migration Report’ and the editor-in-
chief of the journal M igration and Development .
R. B. Bhagat is Professor and Head, Department of Migration and Urban
Studies, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai,
Maharashtra, India. He has served as Consultant to the UNESCO-UNI-
CEF India Initiative on Migration and to the International Organisation
of Migration (IOM) and Advisor to the Yale University Project on Cli-
mate Change and Communication. His research interests are in popula-
tion, urbanisation, environment and migration issues.
Dedicated to our teachers who inspired
us for migration research
PROFESSOR K C ZACHARIAH
LATE PROFESSOR S MUKERJI
Climate Change,
Vulnerability and
Migration
Edited by
S. Irudaya Rajan
and R. B. Bhagat
First published 2018
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
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© 2018 selection and editorial matter, S. Irudaya Rajan and R. B.
Bhagat; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of S. Irudaya Rajan and R. B. Bhagat to be identified as
the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their
individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections
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ISBN: 978-0-415-79072-7(hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-14774-1(ebk)
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Contents
List of illustrations vii
Notes on contributors x
Preface and acknowledgements xii
1 Migration in the context of climate change:
an introduction 1
R. B. BHAGAT AND S. IRUDAYA RAJAN
2 Climate change, vulnerability and migration in India:
overlapping hotspots 18
R. B. BHAGAT
3 Migrating to adapt? Exploring the climate change,
migration and adaptation nexus 43
HIMANI UPADHYAY AND DIVYA MOHAN
4 Exploring vulnerability in flood-affected
remittance-recipient and non-recipient households
of upper Assam in India 59
SOUMYADEEP BANERJEE, DOMINIC KNIVETON,
RICHARD BLACK AND PARTHA JYOTI DAS
5 Institutional response to displacement due to
chronic disasters: the art of muddling through 75
RITUMBRA MANUVIE
6 Remittances as self-insured life: on migration,
flood and conflict in North-Western Pakistan 94
GIOVANNA GIOLI
vi Contents
7 Situating migration in planned and autonomous
adaptation practices to climate change in Bangladesh 119
TASNEEM SIDDIQUI, MOHAMMAD RASHED ALAM BHUIYAN,
DOMINIC KNIVETON, RICHARD BLACK, MD. TOWHEEDUL
ISLAM AND MAXMILAN MARTIN
8 Migration in response to environmental change: a risk
perception study from Sundarban Biosphere Reserve 147
AVIJIT MISTRI AND BHASWATI DAS
9 Gender processes in rural outmigration and socio-
economic development in the Himalaya 167
PRAKASH C. TIWARI AND BHAGWATI JOSHI
10 Climate change, drought and vulnerability:
a historical narrative approach to migration
from Western Odisha, India 193
ARCHITESH PANDA
11 Dynamics of distress seasonal migration:
a study of a drought-prone Mahabubnagar
district in Telangana 212
VIJAY KORRA
12 Seasonal migration from dry climatic zone:
a case of rural Maharashtra 237
ABDUL JALEEL C. P. AND APARAJITA CHATTOPADHYAY
13 Migrant ecology 260
SHAREENA BANU C. P.
14 Spaces of recognition of climate migrants in India:
question of rights and responsibilities 283
BRATATI DEY
Index 299
Illustrations
Figures
2.1 Conceptual framework depicting the relationship
between climate change and mobility outcomes 25
2.2 Regional pattern of climate change vulnerability
and migration in India 29
2.3 Natural calamity as a reason of migration
per 1,000 migrants 30
6.1 Remittances from the Gulf countries 97
7.1 Experiences of environmental and climatic hazards 123
7.2 Relocation experiences of homestead 131
8.1 Islander’s risk perception in the current impact
of climatic conditions 153
8.2 Environmental change risk perception between
migrants and non-migrants 155
8.3 Environmental risk perception in farming 158
8.4 Environmental risk perception in fishing 162
10.1 Adaptation to drought 203
10.2 Historical narrative on migration and drought impacts 205
Tables
4.1 Sub-dimensions and attributes of sensitivity by
remittance-recipient status of the household, upper
Assam, Eastern Brahmaputra sub-basin 65
4.2 Sub-dimensions and attributes of adaptive capacity
by remittance-recipient status of the household,
upper Assam, Eastern Brahmaputra sub-basin 67
5.1 Population affected by floods and human lives
lost in Assam, 2000–2013 77
5.2 Distribution of D-voters across Assam 87
viii Illustrations
6.1 Costs of migration to Saudi Arabia 104
7.1 Geographic distribution of sample households by
gender 120
7.2 Geographic distribution of sample households by
migration experience 120
7.3 Major drivers of migration in origin and destination
districts of Bangladesh 135
7.4 Household financial situation in first and present
dwellings 138
8.1 Environmental change Risk Perception Index (RPI)
in Sundarban 152
8.2 Areas of concern 154
8.3 Environmental risk perception in farming 157
8.4 Independent sample t-test (risk perception in farming
and migration) 160
8.5 Environmental risk perception in fishing 161
8.6 Independent sample t-test (risk perception in fishing
and migration) 163
9.1 Trends of rural outmigration during 2001–10 175
9.2 Pattern of rural outmigration during 2001–10 175
9.3 Drivers of male outmigration: a community perception 176
9.4 School dropout rates of girl children and level of
female education during 2001–10 177
9.5 Level of social empowerment of rural women 178
9.6 Level of Economic Empowerment of Rural Women 181
9.7 Women’s traditional knowledge and adaptation
to climate change 182
10.1 Average yearly income by different farm
size groups (in INR) 199
10.2 Migration among different farm size groups 200
10.3 Frequency and reasons for migration among
sample households 202
11.1 Sex-wise distribution of individual migrants 215
11.2 Distribution of migrants according to sub-caste and sex 216
11.3 Distribution of migrants according to age groups and sex 218
11.4 Classification of migrants’ occupation by castes 220
11.5 Classification of individuals’ reasons for migration
as per castes 222
11.6 Distribution of migrants’ destinations according to sex 224
11.7 Patterns of migrants’ employment by their usual
occupation 225
11.8 Distribution of migrants’ duration of stay at destinations 228
Illustrations ix
11.9 Migrants’ income spending by their castes 233
12.1 Selected development indicators of Beed and
Solapur districts 240
12.2 Demographic characteristics of the total population,
seasonal migrant population (movers) and population
who remained at home (non-movers) 242
12.3 Average working days, wage and share of income
from seasonal migration by male and female seasonal
migrant workers of rural Maharashtra 244
12.4 Economic benefits of migration 246
14.1 Block-wise distribution of population of the
Sundarbans in the district of North 24 Parganas 288
14.2 Block-wise distribution of population of the
Sundarbans in the district of South 24 Parganas 289
Maps
2.1 Biophysical divisions of India 23
2.2 District-level mapping of climate change vulnerability,
measured as a composite of adaptive capacity and
climate sensitivity under exposure to climate change 27
2.3 Level of urbanization in India (in per cent), 2011 29
2.4 Seasonal and temporary migration in India, 2007–08 32
2.5 Climate change vulnerability and hotspots of
migration (1–5) – district-level mapping of climate
change vulnerability of India’s agriculture sector,
measured as a composite of adaptive capacity and
climate sensitivity under exposure to climate change 33
6.1 Study areas (Swat and Lower Dir districts) 99
8.1 Schematic plan of sampling, Sundarban Biosphere Reserve 151
Boxes
2.1 Government of India initiative on climate change
response 22
2.2 Hotspots of seasonal and temporary migration 33
12.1 Case study of a woman seasonal migrant from
Beed district 249
12.2 A first-time seasonal migrant woman from
Yevatmal District 251
12.3 Case study 253