Mustafa Aksakal

Migration and Social Protection as Adaptation in Response to Climate-Related Stressors: The Case of Zacatecas in Mexico

Migration in the context of climate change has recently been addressed in different ways and with a particular focus on vulnerable people. Special attention has thereby been paid to rural areas in developing countries (UNDP, 2007/08). Shifting away from assumptions of a linear relationship, which postulate that climate change inevitably leads to different forms of migration, more elaborated approaches argue that the link between climate change and migration is complex. Additionally, it is stated that different forms of climate-related stressors lead to different forms of human mobility, and that migration in the context of climate change can manifest in two forms: as a forced coping and a “voluntary” adaptation strategy, depending on internal and external preconditions (Foresight, 2011).

Temporary Migrants’ Experiences, Perceptions and Motivations in Asian-German Transnational Spaces

Temporary transnational migration is an increasingly important phenomenon, which is partly reflected in the growing numbers of migrants and the alignment of the German migration legislation over the last years. On the one hand, international migration, and particularly temporary stays of Asians in Germany, has gained increasing importance. Accordingly, in 2013 Germany was the second most popular immigration country after the USA in absolute numbers (BAMF 2015); with 12.4% of all international migrants, immigration from Asia represents the third largest inflow of foreign people after EU and non-EU countries (Kreienbrink and Mayer 2014). On the other hand, two trends in immigration law can be noted: First, as Beine et al. (2015) observed for several receiving countries, also in Germany immigration laws are selective in nature and geared towards the attraction of migrants with particular characteristics. Second, the German immigration legislation has so far mainly been designed for temporary stays, since most permits are limited to a certain period of time (e.g. the regular resident permit, the EU Blue Card for professionals, the international student resident permit and the residence permits for asylum seekers). However, current German legislation also provides opportunities for more permanent stays, particularly for professionals who are able to incorporate successfully into the German labour market.

Introduction: Temporary Migration in European-Asian Social Spaces

One of the key tendencies in the contemporary world is the increase in the volumes of people’s mobility back and forth between nation-states for various reasons as well as the rise of people’s engagement in cross-border social ties. People ‘migrate, oscillate, circulate or tour’ (O’Reilly 2007: 281) between their home and host countries, which means that they may leave one country, move to a second and then either settle there or return to their native country, or move on to a third.

Conclusion: Characteristics, Experiences and Transnationality of Temporary Migration

Besides uncovering how politics structure the transnational movement issues in sending, transit and receiving societies, the previous chapters sought to make the transnational practices and lived experiences of individual temporary migrants visible. Since the 1990s scholars have explored the dynamics of transnational migration with an emphasis on the emergence of transnational spaces that transcend geographic, political, social and cultural borders (e.g. Faist 2000; Portes et al. 1999). What this literature has not done sufficiently is to explain the implications of the temporariness of migration with respect to these dynamics. The EURA-NET research sought to shed light on the everyday experiences of temporary migrants in the European-Asian transnational social spaces. Answers were sought to the following questions: (1) Why do people migrate on a temporary basis and not permanently? (2) What are the daily experiences of various types of temporary migrants? (3) How does temporariness affect their migration experiences? (4) How does temporary migrants’ transnationalism appear in the European-Asian transnational social spaces?