Perception of Environmental Change Relationship to Labor Migration in the Chitwan Valley

Abstract

This research examines environmental change, in terms of agriculture production, influence on outmigration from the Chitwan Valley in Nepal. As the first part of a longitudinal study, a maximum variation sampling method was used to gather data on farming households' perceptions of environmental change and labor migration. While collecting field data, verbal consent was obtained from research participants and their identities protected. This study uses the measures of environmental change, social capital, and environmental history to analyze risk formation and amplification along migrant networks. Additionally, using t-tests, this data was compared to a sample from the Chitwan Valley Family Study (CVFS) to observe change in perception and labor migration over time. The analysis concludes that perception of environmental change interacts with socio-cultural processes in ways that intensify household level migration. In addition, environmental change is one of the main factors causing low efficiency in agriculture production, leading households to diversify occupation and income through labor migration.