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A Methodology for Assessing Patterns of Labour Migration in Mountain Communities Exposed to Water Hazards

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Disentangling Migration and Climate Change

Abstract

There is a knowledge gap regarding migration in mountain regions, where exposure to environmental stress is the norm, and any increase in such stresses can be expected to have a marked effect on the lives and livelihood of mountain people. At present, there is little understanding of the process through which the impacts of water hazards influence the choice of household response, including the decision to migrate for work; and the role of remittances in shaping the adaptive capacity of recipient household. In 2010, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) conducted a regional study to examine the labour migration process in communities exposed to too much water (flash and other floods) and too little water (drought and water shortage) in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. This study aimed to assess the influence of water hazards on the migration behaviour and the role of remittances on the adaptive capacity of recipient households. This chapter outlines the research design, theoretical framework, and research methods; briefly discusses some of the major findings; and the critically discusses the major challenges that were encountered during the study.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The other themes studied during the second phase of the Project were the role of tree crops in local adaptations to climate variability; effectiveness of flood mitigation infrastructure to address water hazards; and role of local governance in strengthening adaptive capacity to water stress.

  2. 2.

    http://www.each-for.eu/index.php?module=project_outline.

  3. 3.

    http://www.nfhsindia.org/nfhs3_national_report.shtml.

  4. 4.

    Personal correspondence with Kerstin Schmidt-Verkerk (study in Mexico) and Christopher Smith (study in Burkina Faso).

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Brigitte Hoermann (ICIMOD), Dr. Michael Kollmair (ICIMOD), Prof. Richard Black (University of Sussex, United Kingdom) and Dr. Jeanette Schade (Bielefeld University) for their insightful feedback at various stages during the research. The authors will like to thank Dr. Partha Das (Aaranyak, India), Mr. Muhammad Younus (Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, Pakistan), Mr. Dev Narayan Yadav (Koshi Victims’ Society, Nepal), and Dr. Caizhen Lu (Kunming Institute of Botany, China) for their invaluable support during the fieldwork. The authors would like to thank Mr. Dharma Maharjan (ICIMOD) for his assistance in creating the illustrations. The authors will also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. The research was funded by the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, GPO Box 3226, Lalitpur, Khumaltar, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Soumyadeep Banerjee & Jean-Yves Gerlitz

  2. University of Sussex, Chichester 1 Ci155, Brighton, BN1 9QJ, UK

    Dominic Kniveton

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  1. Soumyadeep Banerjee
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Correspondence to Soumyadeep Banerjee .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center on Migration, Citizenship and Development (COMCAD), Bielefeld University, Universitätsstrasse 25, Bielefeld, 33615, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Thomas Faist

  2. , Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, Universitätsstrasse 25, Bielefeld, 33615, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Jeanette Schade

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Banerjee, S., Gerlitz, JY., Kniveton, D. (2013). A Methodology for Assessing Patterns of Labour Migration in Mountain Communities Exposed to Water Hazards. In: Faist, T., Schade, J. (eds) Disentangling Migration and Climate Change. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6208-4_4

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