Population, Space and Place
Volume 20, Issue 5, 2014, Pages 402-420

Rural Outmigration, Natural Capital, and Livelihoods in South Africa (Article)

Hunter L.M.* , Nawrotzki R. , Leyk S. , Maclaurin G.J. , Twine W. , Collinson M. , Erasmus B.
  • a University of Colorado Boulder, United States, MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
  • b University of Colorado Boulder, United States
  • c University of Colorado Boulder, United States
  • d University of Colorado Boulder, United States
  • e MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
  • f MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, Umeå Centre for Global Health Research, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden, INDEPTH Network, Ghana
  • g MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa

Abstract

Rural households across the globe engage in both migration and natural resource use as components of livelihood strategies designed to meet household needs. Yet, migration scholars have only recently begun to regularly integrate environmental factors into empirical modelling efforts. To examine the migration-environment association in rural South Africa, we use vegetation measures derived from satellite imagery combined with detailed demographic data from over 9000 households at the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance Site. Results reveal that household-level temporary migration is associated with higher levels of local natural capital, although no such association exists for permanent migration. Further, more advantaged households exhibit a stronger association between migration-environment, in-line with the 'environmental capital' hypothesis, suggesting that natural resource availability can facilitate household income diversification. We argue that a focus on migration's environmental aspects is especially timely in the contemporary era of climate change and that natural capital availability and variability represent critical pieces of the empirical migration puzzle, especially regarding cyclical livelihood migration. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Author Keywords

Migration South Africa Natural resources Rural livelihoods Environment Agincourt

Index Keywords

resource use natural capital rural society natural resource South Africa household income migration

Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84903774971&doi=10.1002%2fpsp.1776&partnerID=40&md5=24c8bb2e403d3baa7c963d45311153da

DOI: 10.1002/psp.1776
ISSN: 15448444
Cited by: 37
Original Language: English