Migrants’ remittances

Abstract

Purpose The much-trumpeted Green Climate Fund and several other official financial mechanisms for financing adaptation to climate change under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change have fallen short in meeting adaptation needs. Many poorer people are still grappling with the scourge of climate change impacts. Consequently, there has been a dominant research focus on climate change financing emanating from official development assistance (ODA), Adaptation Fund, public expenditure and private sector support. However, there has been little attempt to examine how migrants’ remittances can close adaptation financing gaps at the local level, ostensibly creating a large research gap. This paper aims to argue that migrants’ remittances provide a unique complementary opportunity for financing adaptation and have a wider impact on those who are extremely vulnerable to climate change. Design/methodology/approach The paper is aligned to the qualitative research approach. Both secondary and primary data acquired through interviews and focus group discussions were used for the study. Multiple sampling methods were also used to select the respondents. Findings The findings show that remittances are used to finance both incremental costs of households’ infrastructure and consumption needs, as well as additional investment needs to be occasioned by ongoing or expected changes in climate. Originality/value In the wake of dwindling government/public revenue, ODA and poor commitment of Annex II countries to fulfil their financial obligations, the study makes the following recommendations: First, the financial infrastructure underpinning money transfers in both sending and recipient countries should be improved to make transfers attractive. Second, significant steps should be taken to reduce the fees on remittance services, especially for the small transfers typically made by poor migrants. Finally, adequate climatic information should be made available to local people to ensure that remittances are applied to the right adaptation option to avoid maladaptation.

Climate change and the public health imperative for supporting migration as adaptation

“…Indeed, when enabled to escape conditions of economic/environmental hardship and provided with equitable access to quality healthcare services along migration routes and in destination countries, individuals can prevent diseases and maintain good health along the migration process ( Schwerdtle et al., 2018 ). Additionally, through sending remittances back home, climate migrants can support local adaptation and resiliency-building within their communities, improving both social and environmental determinants of health in otherwise climate-vulnerable settings ( International Organization for Migration 2023 ; Musah-Surugu et al., 2018 ; Hassan and Mahmud, 2021 ). With regards to the broader health status of migrant receiving communities, recently developed dynamic simulation models have shown that policies which restrict access to healthcare and environmental health services for climate migrants may harm the net health of all residents ( Reuveny, 2021 ).…”

Integration of immigrants in Spain: Circumstances, state policy, possibilities of use in Russia

“…e Examples of policy measures that support migrants' investments include the 3×1 Program for Migrants in Mexico, through which national authorities provide three dollars for every one dollar of remittances invested in community projects; or loans offered by the Senegalese Government to diasporas. f a IOM, 2017c:81;Musah-Surugu et al, 2018. b Samuwai and Maxwell Hills, 2018.…”

Conditions under Which Rural-to-Urban Migration Enhances Social and Economic Sustainability of Home Communities: A Case Study in Vietnam

“…Thus, migration impacts rural areas' socioeconomic sustainability when its influences are not only current but ongoing. Through urbanto-rural flows (e.g., remittances, return migration), migrants contribute to present rural development through remittance investment (e.g., improving household welfare, educating children, donating to improve infrastructure, [16][17][18][19][20]). Additionally, returning migrants' knowledge and skills accumulated during the migration period can be utilized (e.g., to transform rural areas by improving the contractural relationship between rural areas and businesses and thus creating solid social capital, [21]) to contribute to the home community's development.…”

“…Additionally, returning migrants' knowledge and skills accumulated during the migration period can be utilized (e.g., to transform rural areas by improving the contractural relationship between rural areas and businesses and thus creating solid social capital, [21]) to contribute to the home community's development. When migrants' behavior reflects their notice of both society's and the future generation's benefit, their current investments and behaviors can influence future rural development [2,[19][20][21][22].…”

“…Such contributions include, for example, promoting the establishment of onand off-farm businesses, increasing agriculture output value, and diversifying agricultural systems [33][34][35][36][37][38]. In some cases, remittances support home communities in recovering from past disasters and in managing and/or escaping future disaster risks by investing in adaptation strategies (e.g., improvement of infrastructure) [2,19,20]. Importantly, return migration also provides an opportunity to apply knowledge and experience acquired in urban areas to sending areas' labor markets ( [39,40]; as cited by [41]).…”