Depending on the Sky: Environmental Distress, Migration, and Coping in Rural Cambodia
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12087 |
| Date | 01 October 2015 |
| Published date | 01 October 2015 |
| Author | Maryann Bylander |
Depending on the Sky: Environmental
Distress, Migration, and Coping in Rural
Cambodia
Maryann Bylander*
ABSTRACT
Increasingly, research seeks to understand how environmental distress motivates migration,
often focusing on the importance of singular events such as flood, drought or crop loss. This
article explores the case of a Cambodian community where environmental shocks have been
frequent over the past decade and international migration has increased. It shows that as a
result of recurring and varied environmental shocks, households increasingly perceive agricul-
ture-based livelihood strategies as unwise and risky. This perception is widespread even
among households not directly experiencing income loss. As a result, households use migra-
tion as a replacement for local livelihood strategies. These findings support two arguments
relevant for future research and policy. First, that environmental shocks have importance
beyond their immediate, direct impact. Second, that recurring shocks can influence preferences
for and risk perceptions of local investments. Thus for policies to effectively address environ-
mental vulnerability and/or rural development in precarious environments, they must incorpo-
rate local understandings of risk and possibility.
“Riding a buffalo across the mud is easier than swimming.”(Khmer Proverb)
INTRODUCTION
Increasingly, the field of migration has become interested in understanding the links between
migration and environmental distress –to what extent these links exist, how they manifest, and
what might mediate them. Thus over the past decade, researchers have begun to focus more explic-
itly on the extent to which environmental factors such as climate change, flood, drought, crop loss,
and soil degradation have been key in explaining migration decision-making, particularly in areas
where the relationships between livelihoods and environment are precariously balanced. A central
concept in this literature is vulnerability, which can be most simply associated with the ability to
maintain a livelihood (Renaud et al., 2011). Where environmental distress increases the vulnerabil-
ity of a population by either threatening livelihoods or destroying them, it may motivate or force
migration (Renaud et al., 2011).
To date, most research studying the impacts of the environment on migration focuses on quanti-
tative outcomes to singular events such as flood, rainfall change, drought, or crop loss (e.g. Afifi,
* Department of Development Studies, SOAS, University of London.
doi: 10.1111/imig.12087
©2013 The Author
International Migration ©2013 IOM
International Migration Vol. 53 (5) 2015
Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. ISSN 0020-7985
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