Migrants returning to Polder 32 in Dakop Upazilla, Khulna in May 2012, after spending a season working on paddy farms 100 km away. They took their season’s pay in bags of rice, which they will use to feed their families until the local harvest comes in. This migration was an adaptation to the loss of local agricultural production following cyclone Aila, which devastated the Polder in 2009.
Photo: J. Magnolia Gilligan
I have a new paper, with Kelsea Best and Bishawjit Mallick, in which we used pattern-oriented agent-based modeling to study environmentally-driven migration in rural Bangladesh and found that economic inequality in rural villages plays a crucial role.
Environmental stresses, such as floods, droughts, and severe storms, can play important roles in displacing populations and affecting both temporary and permanent migration away from peopleb