Trapped by climate change? (In)voluntary immobility in Bangladesh.

ABSTRACT: While there has been a considerable conceptual discussion of trapped populations in the environmental migration literature, the empirical evidence on their existence is scarce. I examine why many people remain in environmentally vulnerable areas by analyzing newly collected survey panel data of 1515 household heads living along the Jamuna River in Bangladesh, an area affected by riverbank erosion and flooding. To examine whether immobility is voluntary or involuntary, I assess the migration aspirations and capability to move of those who did not migrate after environmental shocks occurred in their village. The majority (82%) of non-migrants can be classified as voluntary non-migrants, while 13% can be considered "trapped" and the remaining 5% as acquiescent non-migrants. Being affected by

SUBMITTER: Freihardt J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12417244 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature