Spatial deprivation: Impact on settlement intentions of eco‐migrants
| Published date | 01 December 2022 |
| Author | Haijuan Yang,Xiwu Hu,Mingji Li,HakJun Song |
| Date | 01 December 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12955 |
60
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International Migration. 2022;60:60–80.
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
INTRODUCTION
Ecological migr ation in China is a government- oriented p opulation migration ac tivity aimed at ecologic al environ-
ment protection and poverty alleviation. It has a large scale in China (over 12 million people have been relocated
from 20 01 to 2 015, and 10 million p eople from 2016 to 2 020), covering a wide range of areas (approx imately
1,400 co untries and 22 provinces from 2016 to 2020). Ecologica l protection an d rural revital ization are the two
major strategies used in China today. China advances the five concepts of innovation, coordination, green, opening
Received: 16 Septe mber 2020
|
Revised: 22 Septe mber 2021
|
Accepted: 3 Decem ber 2021
DOI: 10.1111/imig.12955
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Spatial deprivation: Impact on settlement
intentions of eco- migrants
Haijuan Yang1 | Xiwu Hu2 | Mingji Li3 | HakJun Song4
© 2021 The Author s. Internationa l Migration © 2021 IOM
1Xinhua Colle ge, Ningxia Univer sity,
Yinchuan, China
2College of Econo mics and Manageme nt,
Qinghai Nation alities Universit y, Xining,
China
3School of Reso urces and Environme nt,
Ningxia University, Yinchuan, China
4College of Busin ess Administrat ion, Pai
Chai Univers ity, Daejeon, Repub lic of Korea
Correspondence
Xiwu Hu, Coll ege of Economics and
Management, Qinghai Nationalities
University, Xining, China.
Email: huxi wu1973@163. com
Funding information
the National N atural Science Fou ndation
of China, Gra nt/Award Number: 41561037,
41961028 and 42061033
Abstract
Studies have demonstrated that spatial deprivation (SD)
exists in the process of ecological migration, but few stud-
ies have exa mined whether SD affects the sett lement
intention of e co- migrants . Based on 648 valid q uestion-
naires from 65 villages in China, this study investigates th e
effect of SD on the continued settlem ent intention (CSI)of
eco- migrants by developing a ne w theoretical m odel with
integrating Expectation— Confirmation Model— Theory of
planned behaviour (ECM– TPB) structural e quation model.
We find that the th eoretical model has a high explana-
tion wi th R2 = 75 per cent fo r CSI; t he SD of villages are
different from moving per iods and landforms, and it has
significant main ef fect on CSI and significant moderating
effects on the re lationship be tween set tlement at titude,
settlement satisfaction and CSI; settlement attitude has
significant mediating effec t on settl ement u sefulness to
CSI. The study concludes that co untries should reduce S D
by optimizing the allocation of spatial resou rces to stabilize
the settlement i ntention of eco- migr ants.
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IMPACT OF SD ON SETTLEMENT INTENTION
and sharing and advocates treating the ecological environment as life. At th e same time, it advo cate s the im plem ent a-
tion path of Rural Rev italization and target ed poverty alleviation . As an important mea ns of ecological protecti on
and poverty alleviation, ecological migration is an important reference to test and consolidate the implementation
effect of ecol ogical protection and r ural revitalization s trategies.
It is widely acclaimed that migration has posit ive effect s on m igrant livelih oods and ecological restoration,
even though some researcher s also recognize i ts potential prob lems, such as mi smatch between t raditional pro-
duction style in the sending area and new lifestyles in the receiving area (Gu sta & Fenella, 2018; Li & Wang,
2018; Stephen, 2018). Ecological migration in China has had a signif icant ec ological and social effect (Huang
et al., 2016; Yang et al., 2013); however, the loss of welfa re, livelihood ability, public ser vices and cultural conflict s
after relo cation have led to “swing migration” an d “return migration” (Brzoska & Fröhlich , 2016; Hu, 2020; Song,
2014). Although governme nts have devoted great effort s and a large sum of money to advance the project, th e
settlement rate of eco- migrants (e.g., lower than 70% in Ningxia) has not been achieved (Fan, 2017). In addition,
both settlement houses and old residence bases continue to run synchronously even though settlement houses
are vacant, which is contrary to the original intenti on of China's ecologica l migration policy ( Anastasia & Claudi a,
2020; Reaga n & Olsen , 2000; Zhang, 2019). Th erefore, explo ring the factors that affect the intentions of eco-
migrants to live per manently in migrant villages, na mely, continued settlement inte ntion (CSI), seems to be critical
to ensuring the su stainability of pover ty alleviation and ecol ogical migration polic y.
The meaning of “ecolog ical migration” is similar to tha t of “environmental migration”; both te rms refer to relo-
cation becaus e of environmental factors , and both belong to the forced migrati on category (Dickinson & Webber,
2007; Liang , 2011). However, there are some differences between them. In the Chinese literature, for ecological
migration, t he main driving forc es are the government and environment, a nd the government plays a critical role
(Song, 20 14; Suni, 2012), while for environmental migration, the governmental force is absent (Dun & Gemenne,
2008; Renaud et al. , 2007). Barnet t and Adger (2007) ar gued that environmenta l migration was a coping strat egy
for t hose wh ose li velih oods were str esse d due to f actor s such as clima te chan ge. Fab rice e t al. (2010 ) cla ssifi ed en-
vironmental migrant s into three categories, namely, “environmental refugees”, “environment ally forced migrants”
and “environm entally motivate d migrants”. Thes e conceptions f ocus on the necessity of migration in r elation to
environmenta l stressor s and no governme nt involvement . Ecological migration in Chi na also occurs un der the
pressure of environmental and ecological factors; howeve r, it is an or derly migration process implem ented with
the government's plan, organization, policy support and financial support. The government establishes resettle-
ment areas with complete living, medica l and educati onal facilities for migrants and integrates the resettleme nt
areas into the planning for unified management. The government als o provides policy support for the livelihoods
of immigrants to e nsure that they can sett le permanently (Li et al. , 2014).
Scholars have carried out research on the migrant intentions and behaviours of eco- migrants in the process
of migration and formed s ome important ideas. For exa mple, Li et al . (2014) inves tigated migrant intentions and
their aff ecting fact ors under ecolo gical migratio n policy in arid No rthwest Chin a and noted that eco logical migra-
tion policies may ultimately be more sustainable when considering household interests within complex migration
intention contexts. Feng and Nie ( 2013) found that when migrat ion intention is not consistent with m igration
behaviour, it will lead to the results of a second migrat ion or return to the original place of eco- migrants. However,
few studie s have focused on the CSI o f eco- migrants af ter relocation, especially fro m the perspec tive of spatial
deprivation (SD). SD is a measure of relative poverty and a comprehensive perception of residents’ ability to ac-
quire spatial reso urces. It is manifested through in come and employment, educ ation and training, social li fe, living
environment, acces sibility of public services and other aspects and impac ts eco- m igrants’ subjective perceptio n of
residential usefulness, residential satisfaction, residential attitude and residential behaviour norms. Ecological mi-
gration is a process involvin g the spatial transfer and reconstr uction of poverty- stricken gr oups (Denise & Layton,
2019; Wang & Li, 20 14). In the process of spatial integrati on and reconstr uction, spatia l resources are redistrib-
uted, and spati al relations are reshaped, so spatia l conflict s may arise be cause of the inconsistency of spatia l
structur es, spatial combinations and mutu al transformations, whic h leads to a “spatial mismatch” of resources and
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