“I can migrate, but why should I?”—voluntary non-migration despite creeping environmental risks
Abstract ‘Environmental non-migration’ refers to the spatial continuity of an individual’s residence at the same place despite environmental risk. Moreover, this is a largely under-researched topic, especially within the climate change adaptation discourse, but is increasingly coming to the attentio...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer Nature
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Humanities & Social Sciences Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01516-1 |
| _version_ | 1811175938643197952 |
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| author | Bishawjit Mallick Chup Priovashini Jochen Schanze |
| author_facet | Bishawjit Mallick Chup Priovashini Jochen Schanze |
| author_sort | Bishawjit Mallick |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract ‘Environmental non-migration’ refers to the spatial continuity of an individual’s residence at the same place despite environmental risk. Moreover, this is a largely under-researched topic, especially within the climate change adaptation discourse, but is increasingly coming to the attention of scientists and policymakers for sustainable adaptation planning. So far, there exists hardly any conceptual and methodical guidelines to study environmental non-migration. Considering this research gap, this paper explores environmental non-migration based on the notion that factors of livelihood resilience can partly explain the decision to non-migration. Here, livelihood resilience is seen as an outcome of the interactions between societal and environmental conditions of an individual household. These conditions inform the decisions (to stay or to migrate) taken in case of a hazard or creeping environmental change. Their influence generalises the spectrum of migration decision-making (to stay or to migrate), which is conceptualised by four broad outcomes categorised into voluntary and involuntary, and non-migrants and migrants. This analytical concept is operationalised through an empirical example in southwest coastal Bangladesh. The results suggest that the Livelihood Resilience Index (LRI) relates to the voluntary nature of migration decisions once they are made. Still, only a household’s resilience cannot predict the decisions the household makes to stay or migrate. The paper concludes that the proposed analytical concept, with its exemplary factors, maybe an initial means to holistically explore migration decisions in the context of natural hazards and climate and environmental change. However, environmental non-migration remains complex and multi-faceted, and its assessment requires deeper examination at various scales. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T19:44:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5ea92b7063434c9ea448b2ed95e5294b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2662-9992 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T19:44:06Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Springer Nature |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Humanities & Social Sciences Communications |
| spelling | doaj.art-5ea92b7063434c9ea448b2ed95e5294b2023-01-29T12:06:58ZengSpringer NatureHumanities & Social Sciences Communications2662-99922023-01-0110111410.1057/s41599-023-01516-1“I can migrate, but why should I?”—voluntary non-migration despite creeping environmental risksBishawjit Mallick0Chup Priovashini1Jochen Schanze2Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht UniversityInternational Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)Chair of Environmental Development and Risk Management, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Technische Universität Dresden (TUD)Abstract ‘Environmental non-migration’ refers to the spatial continuity of an individual’s residence at the same place despite environmental risk. Moreover, this is a largely under-researched topic, especially within the climate change adaptation discourse, but is increasingly coming to the attention of scientists and policymakers for sustainable adaptation planning. So far, there exists hardly any conceptual and methodical guidelines to study environmental non-migration. Considering this research gap, this paper explores environmental non-migration based on the notion that factors of livelihood resilience can partly explain the decision to non-migration. Here, livelihood resilience is seen as an outcome of the interactions between societal and environmental conditions of an individual household. These conditions inform the decisions (to stay or to migrate) taken in case of a hazard or creeping environmental change. Their influence generalises the spectrum of migration decision-making (to stay or to migrate), which is conceptualised by four broad outcomes categorised into voluntary and involuntary, and non-migrants and migrants. This analytical concept is operationalised through an empirical example in southwest coastal Bangladesh. The results suggest that the Livelihood Resilience Index (LRI) relates to the voluntary nature of migration decisions once they are made. Still, only a household’s resilience cannot predict the decisions the household makes to stay or migrate. The paper concludes that the proposed analytical concept, with its exemplary factors, maybe an initial means to holistically explore migration decisions in the context of natural hazards and climate and environmental change. However, environmental non-migration remains complex and multi-faceted, and its assessment requires deeper examination at various scales.https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01516-1 |
| spellingShingle | Bishawjit Mallick Chup Priovashini Jochen Schanze “I can migrate, but why should I?”—voluntary non-migration despite creeping environmental risks Humanities & Social Sciences Communications |
| title | “I can migrate, but why should I?”—voluntary non-migration despite creeping environmental risks |
| title_full | “I can migrate, but why should I?”—voluntary non-migration despite creeping environmental risks |
| title_fullStr | “I can migrate, but why should I?”—voluntary non-migration despite creeping environmental risks |
| title_full_unstemmed | “I can migrate, but why should I?”—voluntary non-migration despite creeping environmental risks |
| title_short | “I can migrate, but why should I?”—voluntary non-migration despite creeping environmental risks |
| title_sort | i can migrate but why should i voluntary non migration despite creeping environmental risks |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01516-1 |
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