Patrick Sakdapolrak

Human mobility in response to rainfall variability: opportunities for migration as a successful adaptation strategy in eight case studies

This article analyses the dynamics between rainfall variability, food insecurity and human mobility in eight case studies, namely Ghana, Tanzania, Guatemala, Peru, Bangladesh, India, Thailand and Vietnam. It covers a large spectrum of rainfall-related climatic events, including floods, drought, seasonal shifts and dry spells, and their impact on food insecurity and in turn on human mobility in approximately 1300 households in the eight case studies. It also summarizes the outcomes of focus group discussions and participatory research approach sessions held with communities in the villages that are affected by rainfall variability. The article compares the outcomes of the case studies and identifies the similarities and areas of overlap. It concludes that for some households – regardless of the case study – there is high potential for migration to be a successful adaptation strategy. Some other households rather find it hard to adapt to the situation in situ; among them, some cannot afford moving to other areas to improve their livelihoods and remain ‘trapped’ while others do move, but barely survive or are even subject to worse conditions. The article provides policy recommendations for policy-makers and practitioners that might be applicable for these, and also other countries exposed to the same climatic issues. Finally, the article provides an outlook with lessons learned for the benefit of future research.

Why successful in situ adaptation with environmental stress does not prevent people from migrating? Empirical evidence from Northern Thailand

This article examines the relationship between rainfall-related events and trends, livelihood and food security and migration in rural upland communities in Thailand. This study was conducted as one of eight case studies within the framework of the ‘Where the Rain Falls’ Project. This article is based on empirical research in four villages in the Province Lamphun, Northern Thailand. The households’ livelihood in the research area is characterized by a high level of on and off-farm diversification and integration into national and global market structures. Migration – internal as well as international – is widespread. Based on the data gathered in a multi-method field-based research design, the study observed that while households are exposed to various rainfall related stressors, such as the extreme rainfall in 2011 which resulted in heavy floods in the Central Plains of Thailand, migration is not considered as a primary coping and risk mitigation strategy. Environmental factors are furthermore not the primary explanatory factor for pattern of mobility. The study highlights the complex relationship between environmental factors including rainfall and migration beyond determinism notions of environmental migration. This study points out that while migration might not be caused by rainfall-related events and trends, through migration induced translocal connectedness, the social resilience of exposed households and communities can be strengthened.

The Social Practices of Governing Analysing Waste Water Governance in a Delhi Slum

Delhi’s slums face recurrent and disturbing waste water-related problems: overflowing drains, stagnation of sewerage near or within houses, and subsequent mosquito breeding cause difficulties for everyday life and serious health hazards. The question arises for the affected people as well as administration, how to deal with this tremendous challenge? Governance is defined as ‘exercise of authority, control, management, power of government’ (World Bank, 1992, p. 3) and is used to explain differential outcomes of development interventions. It is widely recognized to be the task of the state, the private sector and civil society conjunctly (UNDP, 1997). Yet, the development debate is suggestive of a rather organized process of governance; of negotiations that lead to the identification of a common goal; and of a rational, technical, and somewhat apolitical management of means of reaching this goal. From this perspective, the waste water situation in Delhi’s slums presents a clear case of governance failure. This article aims at shedding these assumptions and the conclusion they point at, and rather expose the scattered, piece-meal and conflict-ridden character of governance practices and outcomes in the urban everyday. It therefore takes a bottom-up perspective on governance, starting from the empirical evidence of waste water governance in one slum cluster in west Delhi.

Loss and Damage as an Alternative to Resilience and Vulnerability? Preliminary Reflections on an Emerging Climate Change Adaptation Discourse

One relatively novel way of assessing the characteristics and limitations of resilience and vulnerability (R&V) is undertaken in this article by investigating a growing alternative paradigm—loss and damage (L&D) policy. The idea of L&D as an emerging policy may be surprising to many in the disaster risk management community, and so we first outline the origins of this trend, and then explore the potential benefits and pitfalls of adopting it. This short article represents our preliminary opinions and observations regarding this reintroduction of a long-established concept. We also present results from a very brief peer-group survey on some of the first immediate reactions towards L&D policy. At this early stage, this article cannot offer a full-fledged analysis, but our reflections may serve as a starting point to encourage further discussion.

Migration, Environment and Inequality: Perspectives of a Political Ecology of Translocal Relations

Research into the relationship between environment and migration—particularly how the environment influences the decision to migrate—has gained currency in the last decade. However, the growing body of recent environmental-migration literature exhibits an under-theorized and depoliticized notion of the environment. Furthermore, migration is usually perceived as an emergency response, a one-time movement, neglecting the often inherent circularity and continuous effects of migration. In this chapter, we introduce the concepts of translocality and political ecology as a means to address this lapse. We also propose a political ecology of translocal relations as a framework for research into the migration-environment nexus. This to be an important issue in this time of mounting and often reductionist debates.

Burden of direct and indirect costs of illness: Empirical findings from slum settlements in Chennai, South India

According to a recent WHO report, around 100 million people are reduced to poverty every year due to costs associated with illness. Contributing to the growing literature on the economic burden of illness, this article examines the indirect and direct costs of illness that occur at the household level, describes their influence on treatment-seeking behaviour and assesses their impact on household welfare. The results presented are based on an empirical study carried out in slum settlements in the megacity of Chennai in South India. We show that the poorer section of slum dwellers suffer disproportionally from catastrophic illness costs despite the existence of free public health services. Policies need to be implemented that enhances the resilience of poor households against illness costs.

Social networks and the resilience of rural communities in the Global South: a critical review and conceptual reflections

In the last decades, a growing scholarship has outlined the crucial role of social networks as a source of resilience. However, with regard to the Global South, the role of social networks for the resilience of rural communities remains an underresearched and underconceptualized issue, because research remains scattered between different strands and has rarely been integrated from a resilience perspective. To provide common ground for the exchange between disciplines and to identify steps towards a more comprehensive social network perspective on the resilience of rural communities in the Global South, we present a systematic review of contemporary case studies from three strands of research: (i) natural resource management, (ii) agricultural innovation, and (iii) social support. Although studies in each strand have their own particular strengths and weaknesses in addressing aspects of the resilience of rural communities in the Global South, they all share a static view of the outcomes of social networks, tend to emphasize structure over agency, and neglect spatial dimensions of social relations. To address these challenges, we propose a translocal social network perspective on resilience that views rural communities as being embedded in social networks that connect people and facilitate the flow of resources, information, and knowledge between places.

Measuring the Local Burden of Diarrhoeal Disease Among Slum Dwellers in the Megacity Chennai, South India

India is one of the focal points of the global megapolisation process. The country is facing urban poverty and the urban poor bear a large disease burden. In the South Indian metropolis of Chennai, one of India’s seven megacities, an estimated 18.9% (Census of India 2001) to 40.9% (NFHS-3 in Gupta et al. 2009: 74) of the population lives in areas categorised as slums. Slums are characterised as areas with lack of access to basic services, substandard housing, overcrowding, insecure tenure, poverty as well as unhealthy living conditions (UN-Habitat 2003: 11). Consequently slum dwellers are not only more exposed to social and environmental health risks (e.g. lack of sanitation facilities), but also have less capacities to cope with them. The health status of slum dwellers is poor in comparison to other residents. The results of the third National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3, 2005-06) (Gupta et al. 2009) clearly indicates this intra-urban health inequality. The South Indian megacity Chennai is a case in point (NFHS-3, 2005-06): while the infant mortality rate for Chennai as a whole was 27.6, the rate in non-slum areas was 24.2 as compared to 38 in slum areas. A look at the disease-specific health burden shows that slum dwellers are suffering a higher burden of infectious diseases: tuberculosis, a widespread infectious disease in India, has a prevalence of 863 per 100,000 among male slum dwellers in Chennai. The prevalence in nonslum areas in contrast is 437 per 100,000. In addition, slum dwellers have, in certain areas, a higher burden of non-infectious diseases as well: the prevalence of diabetes among female slum dwellers was 3,901 per 100,000 in Chennai. It was slightly higher than the prevalence among non-slum female residents, which was 3,867 per 100,000.

Gesellschaft und Umwelt

Umweltbezogene gesellschaftliche Probleme sind im 21. Jahrhundert drangender denn je. Im „Anthropozan“ beeinflussen menschliche Eingriffe die naturliche Umwelt in einem Mase, wie dies noch niemals in der Vergangenheit der Fall war. Der menschgemachte Klimawandel mit seinen vielfaltigen Folgen ist hier ein prominentes Beispiel. Doch auch auf vielen anderen Gebieten kommt es zu engen Verzahnungen zwischen Umwelt und Gesellschaft, sei es im Hinblick auf Schlusselressourcen der Erde (Ol, Wasser usw.) oder in Bezug auf Umwelt und Gesundheit (z. B. Ausbreitung tropischer Krankheiten in einer globalisierten Welt). Mit solchen und ahnlichen Fragestellungen beschaftigt sich die Gesellschaft-Umwelt-Forschung als „dritte Saule“ neben der Humangeographie und der Physischen Geographie. In diesem Kapitel werden Gesellschaft-Umwelt-Beziehungen anhand einer Reihe von Fallbeispielen beleuchtet und theoretische Konzepte zur Analyse solcher Beziehungen vorgestellt.

Between the village and the global city: the production and decay of translocal spaces of Thai migrant workers in Singapore

Abstract This paper explores the mobilities and structural moorings of Thai labour migrants in Singapore from a translocal perspective. We argue that combining the mobilities paradigm with the concept of translocality offers a fruitful avenue of investigation not only of the production of translocal spaces, but also of their temporality and mutability. Through a multi-sited research approach we shed light on the genesis as well as the decay of translocal connections. This paper shows that translocal structures are important moorings of migration, and raises the question of what happens to translocal spaces when migration flows dissolve. Video abstract Read the transcript Watch the video on Vimeo