Alex Randall
The University of the UN and Care have release a report looking at relationship between changing rainfall, livelihoods and migration. We reported on the new maps the project produced back in September. The final report of the project shows that migration is increasingly becoming a key survival strategy for people who’s livelihoods are impacted by changing rainfall patterns.
On the relationship between changing rainfall and migration the research finds:
- Migration – seasonal, temporal, and permanent – plays an important part in many families’ struggle to deal with rainfall variability and food & livelihood insecurity;
- Migration was found to have increased in recent decades in a number of the research sites;
- Households with more diverse assets and access to a variety of adaptation, livelihood diversification, or risk management options can use migration in ways that enhance resilience;
- Almost entirely within national borders;
- Predominantly male, but with growing participation by women in a number of countries (with India as the exception where entire nuclear families moved together);
- Seasonal, temporal or permanent migration patterns;
- Largely by individual household members (except in the India research site);
- Largely driven by livelihood-related needs (household income) in most countries, but with a growing number of migrants seeking improved skill sets (e.g. through education) in countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Peru;
- A mix of rural-rural and rural-urban, with more productive agricultural areas (Ghana, Bangladesh, Tanzania), nearby urban centers (Peru, India),