Translocal social resilience dimensions of migration as adaptation to environmental change

There is growing recognition of the potential of migration to contribute to climate-change adaptation. Yet, there is limited evidence to what degree, under what conditions, for whom, and with which limitations this is effectively the case. We argue that this results from a lack of recognition and systematic incorporation of sociospatiality—the nested, networked, and intersectional nature of migration-as-adaptation. Our central objective is to utilize the translocal social-resilience approach to overcome these gaps, to identify processes and structures that shape the social resilience of translocal livelihood systems, and to illustrate the mechanisms behind the multiplicity of possible resilience outcomes. Translocal livelihood constellations anchored in rural Thailand as well as in domestic and international destinations of Thai migrants serve as illustrative empirical cases. Data were gathered through a multisited and mixed-methods research design. This paper highlights the role of the distinct but interlinked situations and operational logics at places of origin and destination, as well as the different positionalities and resulting vulnerabilities, roles, commitments, and practices of individuals and households with regard to resilience. Based on the empirical results, the paper distills a generalized typology of five broad categories of resilience outcomes, which explicitly considers sociospatiality. Our approach helps to grasp the complexity of migration-as-adaptation and to avoid simplistic conclusions about the benefits and costs of migration for adaptation—both of which are necessary for sound, evidence-based, migration-as-adaptation policymaking

Between a rock and a hard place: early experience of migration challenges under the Covid-19 pandemic

This working paper was produced under the European Union Horizon 2020 funded AGRUMIG project and traces the impact of Covid-19 on migration trends in seven project countries – China, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal and Thailand. The context of global migration has changed dramatically due to the coronavirus pandemic. Both within and between countries there has been a substantial curtailment of movement. As a result of multiple lockdowns, economic activity has severely declined and labor markets have ground to a halt, with mass unemployment in industrialized economies looming on the horizon. For both migrant hosting and origin countries – some are substantially both – this poses a set of complex development challenges. Partners of the AGRUMIG project undertook a rapid review of impacts across project countries, exploring the impacts on rural households but also identifying the persistent desire to migrate in spite of restrictions

Changing land use, disaster risk and adaptive responses in upland communities in Thailand

The Forensic Investigations of Disaster (FORIN) research approach was utilized to investigate the inter-relationships between land-use changes and adaptive capacity to climate risk in Northern Thailand, and how these are influenced by policy-related and economic activities at national, provincial and local levels. Scenario-based analysis indicated the necessity of community planning concerning future climate risk(s) and adaptive-capacity enhancement. The study highlighted numerous climate risks facing villagers, including flash floods, heavy rainfall temperature extremes, and prolonged drought. The marginalized communities under study are located in National Park and Forest Reserve areas, and the limitations of their existing resources make them especially vulnerable to climate risk. In addition, recent land-use changes and increasing dependence on mono-culture crops planted on sloping land have rendered them more vulnerable to non-climate-based risks including pest outbreaks and market-price fluctuations. The study sees the need for further governmental support in the form of agricultural extension, community-based forest management, diversification and other livelihood strategies that would help to promote the resilience of these forest-dependent communities

Migration governance and agrarian and rural development: comparative lessons from China, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal and Thailand

The purpose of this policy brief is to draw together key comparative lessons on different types of migration governance interventions in the AGRUMIG project research regions and examine how they support positive feedback loops between migration and agrarian and rural development. This exploration offers stories of success and omission. Moving beyond the elusive triple-win situation on the benefits of migration for destination and origin countries, migrants themselves and the highly politicized domain of the migration-development nexus, our point of departure is that there are vital prospects for augmenting the positive impacts of migration for societies globally. This brief focuses on how migration governance interventions are potentially useful in maximizing the gains between migration and agrarian development in the sending communities in China, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal and Thailand