IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i7p2142-d221550.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Facing Climate Change: What Drives Internal Migration Decisions in the Karst Rocky Regions of Southwest China

Author

Listed:
  • Guoqing Shi

    (School of Public Administration, National Research Center for Resettlement, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China)

  • Qiulong LYU

    (School of Public Administration, National Research Center for Resettlement, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China)

  • Ziheng Shangguan

    (School of Public Administration, National Research Center for Resettlement, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China)

  • Tianhe Jiang

    (School of Public Administration, National Research Center for Resettlement, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China)

Abstract

Global climate change and its influence on human migration have caused heated debates. There is no consensus about the role of environmental change in shaping migration decisions. To amass more evidence and develop a deeper understanding of the relations between the environment and migration, this paper seeks to evaluate the importance of various drivers (economic, social, political, demographic, and environmental drivers) and determine the internal mechanism in the decision process. The Likert scale was used as the tool for measuring each respondent’s perception of the drivers, and the within-group interrater agreement index was used to express the survey data and to select the actual driving forces. As a result, economic, social, and political factors were strong forces that promoted migration directly, while demographic and environmental factors were moderate or weak forces that promoted migration indirectly. The migrants’ core consideration was to effectively reduce family risks and sustain their livelihoods by moving to a destination to improve their household income, keep their original social networks, and obtain housing allowances from the local government. Land degradation and meteorological disasters were rooted in the vulnerability and risks of a family, and these factors indirectly influenced the people’s decisions by affecting the socioeconomic drivers. We concluded that isolating the environmental drivers from other drivers underlying migration decisions is difficult. Additionally, the internal mechanism indicated that both environmental and non-environmental factors all have an impact on choice in different ways. Future policies should be aimed at increasing sustainable livelihoods and the social resilience of migrant families at a personal level, balancing the development levels of the original locations and destinations, and strengthening international cooperation to reduce the negative effects of climate change at the regional level.

Suggested Citation

  • Guoqing Shi & Qiulong LYU & Ziheng Shangguan & Tianhe Jiang, 2019. "Facing Climate Change: What Drives Internal Migration Decisions in the Karst Rocky Regions of Southwest China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-16, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:7:p:2142-:d:221550
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/2142/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/2142/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/gaufue4me9tvqtg0t3u18e3la is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Nicolas Coeurdacier & Stéphane Guibaud & Keyu Jin, 2014. "Fertility Policies and Social Security Reforms in China," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 62(3), pages 371-408, August.
    3. K. Warner & M. Hamza & A. Oliver-Smith & F. Renaud & A. Julca, 2010. "Climate change, environmental degradation and migration," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 55(3), pages 689-715, December.
    4. Gray, Clark & Mueller, Valerie, 2012. "Drought and Population Mobility in Rural Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 134-145.
    5. Shilong Piao & Philippe Ciais & Yao Huang & Zehao Shen & Shushi Peng & Junsheng Li & Liping Zhou & Hongyan Liu & Yuecun Ma & Yihui Ding & Pierre Friedlingstein & Chunzhen Liu & Kun Tan & Yongqiang Yu , 2010. "The impacts of climate change on water resources and agriculture in China," Nature, Nature, vol. 467(7311), pages 43-51, September.
    6. Julian Wolpert, 1965. "Behavioral Aspects Of The Decision To Migrate," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(1), pages 159-169, January.
    7. Asian Development Bank (ADB), 2012. "Addressing Climate Change and Migration in Asia and the Pacific," ADB Reports RPT124478, Asian Development Bank (ADB), revised 18 Apr 2014.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Emily C. Nabong & Aaron Opdyke & Jeffrey P. Walters, 2022. "Identifying leverage points in climate change migration systems through expert mental models," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 175(3), pages 1-23, December.
    2. Guoqing Shi & Yuanke Zhao & Xiaoya Mei & Dengcai Yan & Hubiao Zhang & Yuangang Xu & Yingping Dong, 2022. "Livelihood Resilience Perception: Gender Equalisation of Resettlers from Rural Reservoirs—Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-22, September.
    3. Dan Sun & Guochang Zhao, 2023. "Urban Environment Quality and Migrant Settlement Intentions: Evidence from China’s Hygienic Cities Initiative," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-20, August.
    4. Andrej Přívara & Magdaléna Přívarová, 2019. "Nexus between Climate Change, Displacement and Conflict: Afghanistan Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-19, October.
    5. Héctor Morales-Muñoz & Srijna Jha & Michelle Bonatti & Henryk Alff & Sabine Kurtenbach & Stefan Sieber, 2020. "Exploring Connections—Environmental Change, Food Security and Violence as Drivers of Migration—A Critical Review of Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-27, July.
    6. Yuangang Xu & Guoqing Shi & Yingping Dong, 2022. "Effects of the Post-Relocation Support Policy on Livelihood Capital of the Reservoir Resettlers and Its Implications—A Study in Wujiang Sub-Stream of Yangtze River of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-22, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marion Borderon & Patrick Sakdapolrak & Raya Muttarak & Endale Kebede & Raffaella Pagogna & Eva Sporer, 2019. "Migration influenced by environmental change in Africa: A systematic review of empirical evidence," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 41(18), pages 491-544.
    2. Radel, Claudia & Schmook, Birgit & Carte, Lindsey & Mardero, Sofia, 2018. "Toward a Political Ecology of Migration: Land, Labor Migration, and Climate Change in Northwestern Nicaragua," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 263-273.
    3. Martin Julius Chegere & Theresia Livinus Mrosso, 2022. "Climate Variability, Temporal Migration, and Household Welfare among Agricultural Households in Tanzania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-19, November.
    4. Trinh, Tra Thi & Munro, Alistair, 2023. "Integrating a choice experiment into an agent-based model to simulate climate-change induced migration: The case of the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    5. Kate Burrows & Patrick L. Kinney, 2016. "Exploring the Climate Change, Migration and Conflict Nexus," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-17, April.
    6. Choirul Amin & Sukamdi Sukamdi & Rijanta Rijanta, 2021. "Exploring Migration Hold Factors in Climate Change Hazard-Prone Area Using Grounded Theory Study: Evidence from Coastal Semarang, Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-18, April.
    7. He, Liuyue & Xu, Zhenci & Wang, Sufen & Bao, Jianxia & Fan, Yunfei & Daccache, Andre, 2022. "Optimal crop planting pattern can be harmful to reach carbon neutrality: Evidence from food-energy-water-carbon nexus perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    8. Atsede Desta Tegegne & Marianne Penker, 2016. "Determinants of rural out-migration in Ethiopia: Who stays and who goes?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(34), pages 1011-1044.
    9. Ding, Yimin & Wang, Weiguang & Song, Ruiming & Shao, Quanxi & Jiao, Xiyun & Xing, Wanqiu, 2017. "Modeling spatial and temporal variability of the impact of climate change on rice irrigation water requirements in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 89-101.
    10. Bu, Lingduo & Chen, Xinping & Li, Shiqing & Liu, Jianliang & Zhu, Lin & Luo, Shasha & Lee Hill, Robert & Zhao, Ying, 2015. "The effect of adapting cultivars on the water use efficiency of dryland maize (Zea mays L.) in northwestern China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 1-9.
    11. Raissa Sorgho & Isabel Mank & Moubassira Kagoné & Aurélia Souares & Ina Danquah & Rainer Sauerborn, 2020. "“We Will Always Ask Ourselves the Question of How to Feed the Family”: Subsistence Farmers’ Perceptions on Adaptation to Climate Change in Burkina Faso," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-25, October.
    12. Wenfeng Chi & Yuanyuan Zhao & Wenhui Kuang & Tao Pan & Tu Ba & Jinshen Zhao & Liang Jin & Sisi Wang, 2021. "Impact of Cropland Evolution on Soil Wind Erosion in Inner Mongolia of China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-16, June.
    13. Xu, Ying & Findlay, Christopher, 2019. "Farmers’ constraints, governmental support and climate change adaptation: Evidence from Guangdong Province, China," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 63(4), October.
    14. Doepke, Matthias & Hannusch, Anne & Kindermann, Fabian & Tertilt, Michèle, 2022. "The Economics of Fertility: A New Era," IZA Discussion Papers 15224, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Sedova, Barbora & Kalkuhl, Matthias, 2020. "Who are the climate migrants and where do they go? Evidence from rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    16. Auer Daniel & Römer Friederike & Tjaden Jasper, 2020. "Corruption and the Desire to Leave Quasi-Experimental Evidence on Corruption as a Driver of Emigration Intentions," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-31, January.
    17. Zhongen Niu & Huimin Yan & Fang Liu, 2020. "Decreasing Cropping Intensity Dominated the Negative Trend of Cropland Productivity in Southern China in 2000–2015," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-14, December.
    18. Robalino, Juan & Jimenez, José & Chacón, Adriana, 2015. "The Effect of Hydro-Meteorological Emergencies on Internal Migration," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 438-448.
    19. Yuhong Shuai & Liming Yao, 2021. "Adjustable Robust Optimization for Multi-Period Water Allocation in Droughts Under Uncertainty," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 35(12), pages 4043-4065, September.
    20. Xin Deng & Dingde Xu & Miao Zeng & Yanbin Qi, 2018. "Landslides and Cropland Abandonment in China’s Mountainous Areas: Spatial Distribution, Empirical Analysis and Policy Implications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-14, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:7:p:2142-:d:221550. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.