Human Ecology
Volume 33, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 329-363

Do migrants degrade coastal environments? Migration, natural resource extraction and poverty in North Sulawesi, Indonesia (Article)

Cassels S.* , Curran S.R. , Kramer R.
  • a Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, United States
  • b Department of Sociology, Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, United States
  • c Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, United States

Abstract

Recent literature on migration and the environment has identified key mediating variables such as how migrants extract resources from the environment for their livelihoods, the rate and efficiency of extraction, and the social and economic context within which their extraction occurs. This paper investigates these variables in a new ecological setting using data from coastal fishing villages in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. We do not find as many differences between migrant and non-migrant families regarding destructive fishing behavior, technology, and investment as might have been expected from earlier theories. Instead, the context and timing of migrant assimilation seems to be more important in explaining apparent associations of migration and environmental impacts than simply migrants themselves. This finding fits well with recent literature in the field of international migration and immigrant incorporation. © 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.

Author Keywords

North Sulawesi Local economies Migration Migrants Coralreefs Modes of incorporation Fishing

Index Keywords

coastal fishery North Sulawesi Southeast Asia World Eurasia Indonesia migrants experience Eastern Hemisphere Environmental Degradation Asia immigrant population
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-21844470490&doi=10.1007%2fs10745-005-4142-9&partnerID=40&md5=6b72072541c105c15ace81d5d11ff0bc
DOI: 10.1007/s10745-005-4142-9
ISSN: 03007839
Cited by: 35
Original Language: English