Migration, agrarian transition and water management in an era of globalisation and climate

change

Dr Fraser Sugden Senior Researcher - Political Economy and Water Governance

Nepal Country Representative, International Water Management Institute

Migration – defining issue of our times• Refugee crisis in Europe only a small part of a

much greater demographic transformation.

• Seasonal or temporary movement of labourdominates migration flows today and is emblematic of an increasingly multi-polar global economy.

• Internal migration flows: 244 million people live outside their country of birth worldwide (UNFPA, 2016), and 740 million internal migrants.

• China agricultural image...

Engagement with the source of migration flows• Strong (and justified) focus in development

research on the migrants themselves, and the outcomes on host communities

• Important increasingly to better understand the social, political and economic dynamics in source communities

• Causes of migration are rooted in agrarian and natural resource based economy in sending regions, and the impact of this movement on those who stay behind is significant.

Learning from the past

Source: Wikimedia commons

• Great labour migrations of Industrial revolution Europe represented a break from the land.

• A new start for farming families

• Migration a by-product of the proleterianisationof the peasantry and development of capitalist agriculture.

• New lives in cities, wages rose, and emerging welfare systems

Migration today – ties to the land

Why is water important• Labour migration in the Majority World is

intricately connected with agrarian stress –climate change; weak terms of trade; rising living costs.

• Migration increasingly fills the gap

• Water security however, is increasingly important for agriculture at a time of climate and economic stress – plays a role in mediating migrant flows

• Role of irrigation in offering a fallback at times of drought, while increasing cropping intensity for food security.

Vulnerability of those who stay behind

Access to water for those who stay behind

Migration and water management institutions

Policy questions• Irrigation interventions themselves need to

address structural constraints which are driving farmers to migrate rather than invest on the land

• Investments with ‘youth’ are critical

• Water management interventions need to be sensitive

• ‘Harnessing’ migration• Increased recognition that it is not just a political or

humanitarian issue, but a development issue –migrants can be agents of change

• Recognition by donors and bilateral agencies• Flow of remittances can be harnessed for investments

in agriculture and irrigation

Thank you…