Is migration an effective adaptation to climate-related agricultural distress in sub-Saharan Africa?
In this study, we examine first-time seasonal migration out of a village in North-Western Burkina Faso to neighbouring countries, triggered by more irregular rainfall patterns. Through a set of 52 qualitative interviews, we analyse the perceptions of migrants themselves as well as the sending community regarding migration consequences. Men migrated in the off-season, whereas women stayed behind. Most migrant men and wives of migrants perceive migration to have negative consequences for their socio-economic situation and their health. Despite this, a lack of options and deteriorating environmental conditions might force the...
Source: Population and Environment - October 27, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Altitude and early child growth in 47 countries
AbstractThe relationship between altitude of residence and child linear growth is studied using data for 630,499 children below age 5 years born between 1992 and 2016, as recorded in 47 countries at elevations ranging from − 377 to 4498 m above sea level. Regressions are used to measure the role of household, community, and environmental factors in explaining an observed altitude effect on linear growth. Controlling for b irth year and country effects, and a range of factors correlated with altitude and associated with nutrition outcomes, for each 1000 m gain in elevation, height for age z score (HAZ) declines by...
Source: Population and Environment - September 11, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Residence in infected neighborhoods and fertility decline during the Zika epidemic in Singapore
This study investigates whether fertility decline was significantly higher in neighborhoods containing known Zika cases, compared to unexposed neighborhoods in the city state of Singapore. The results show that the average monthly probability of conception leading to a live birth fell during the Zika epidemic in both exposed and unexposed neighborhoods, and that the decline was not significantly greater in neighborhoods with known cases. The study suggests that the fertility response to perceived infection risks was city-wide rather than localized. Public disclosures of outbreak locations did not lead to a disproportionate...
Source: Population and Environment - September 2, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Local perceptions of socio-ecological drivers and effects of coastal armoring: the case of Moorea, French Polynesia
AbstractThis paper presents a transdisciplinary study focusing on the socio-ecological mechanisms at play in the alteration of Moorea ’s (French Polynesia) coastline. Building on a previous study synthesizing the results from monitoring efforts of the island’s coastline from 1977 to 2018, we offer a joint analysis of scientific and local perceptions of coastal changes and of the impacts of coastal armoring in Moorea. Drawing o n ecological and ethnographic data (111 semi-structured interviews of Moorea residents and representatives from local authorities), we analyze the drivers invoked by near-shore residents to modif...
Source: Population and Environment - August 6, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
The social correlates of flood risk: variation along the US rural –urban continuum
AbstractCompositional and contextual characteristics of a place capture the collective financial, physical, human, and social capital of an area and its ability to prevent, plan for, and recover from severe weather events. Research that examines the compositional and contextual characteristics of places with elevated flood risk is largely limited to urban-centric analyses and case studies. However, rural areas of the USA are not immune to flooding. In this paper, we integrate social and physical data to identify the social correlates of flood risk and determine if and how they vary across the rural –urban continuum for a...
Source: Population and Environment - July 18, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Climate Mobility and Development Cooperation
AbstractDevelopment cooperation actors have been addressing climate change as a cross-cutting issue and investing in climate adaptation projects since the early 2000s. More recently, as concern has risen about the potential impacts of climate variability and change on human mobility, development cooperation actors have begun to design projects that intentionally address the drivers of migration, including climate impacts on livelihoods. However, to date, we know little about the development cooperation ’s role and function in responding to climate related mobility and migration. As such, the main aim of this paper is to ...
Source: Population and Environment - July 17, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Migration and fuel use in rural Zambia
AbstractWhat is the effect of migration on fuel use in rural Zambia? Opportunities to increase income can be scarce in this setting; in response, households may pursue a migration strategy to increase resources as well as to mitigate risk. Migrant remittances may make it possible for households to shift from primary reliance on firewood to charcoal, and the loss of productive labor through migration may reinforce this shift. This paper uses four waves of panel data collected as part of the Child Grant Programme in rural Zambia to examine the connection between migration and the choice of firewood or charcoal as cooking fue...
Source: Population and Environment - June 17, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Socioeconomic disparities in climate vulnerability: neonatal mortality in northern Sweden, 1880 –1950
AbstractThe aim of this study was to analyse the association between season of birth, temperature and neonatal mortality according to socioeconomic status in northern Sweden from 1880 to 1950. The source material for this study comprised digitised parish records combined with local weather data. The association between temperature, seasonality, socioeconomic status and neonatal mortality was modelled using survival analysis. We can summarise our findings according to three time periods. During the first period (1880 –1899), temperature and seasonality had the greatest association with high neonatal mortality, and the soc...
Source: Population and Environment - June 10, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Putting people into dynamic places: the importance of specific contexts in understanding demographic responses to changes in the natural environment
(Source: Population and Environment)
Source: Population and Environment - June 10, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Scales and sensitivities in climate vulnerability, displacement, and health
AbstractClimate change and attendant weather events are global phenomena with wide-ranging implications for migration and health. We argue that while these issues are inherently interrelated, little empirical or policy attention has been given to the three-way nexus between climate vulnerability, migration, and health. In thisReview, we develop a conceptual model to guide research on this three-way nexus. In so doing, we apply our conceptual model to a range of case studies, including Bangladesh, Mexico, Myanmar, and the USA. They illustrate that climate vulnerability-migration-health interlinkages are context specific, va...
Source: Population and Environment - April 22, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Left home high and dry-reduced migration in response to repeated droughts in Thailand and Vietnam
AbstractWe investigate the extent to which droughts impact migration responses of rural households in Thailand and Vietnam, as well as the role of underlying mechanisms such as risk aversion and socioeconomic status that may affect the response. We combine longitudinal household data from the Thailand Vietnam Socio Economic Panel from 2007 to 2017 with monthly high-resolution (0.5 °) rainfall and temperature data from the Global Historical Climatology Network Version 2 and the Climate Anomaly Monitoring System (respectively) to characterize droughts at the sub-district level. We find that exposure to two consecutive years...
Source: Population and Environment - April 15, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Correction to: Climate variability and health in extremely vulnerable communities: investigating variations in surface water conditions and food security in the West African Sahel
A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-021-00381-x (Source: Population and Environment)
Source: Population and Environment - April 7, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Working toward effective anonymization for surveillance data: innovation at South Africa ’s Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance Site
We report findings from analyses of the error introduced by several masking techniques applied to data from the Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographi c Surveillance System in rural South Africa. Using a vegetation index (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)) at the household scale, comparisons are made between the “true” NDVI values and those calculated after masking. We also examine the tradeoffs between accuracy and protecting resp ondent privacy. The exploration suggests that in this study setting and for NDVI, geomasking approaches that use buffers and account for population density produce the most accura...
Source: Population and Environment - March 24, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Population responses to environmental change: looking back, looking forward
Abstract
Over the past two decades, population researchers have engaged in a far-reaching and productive program of research on demographic responses to changes in the natural environment. This essay “looks back” to the origins of these developments, identifying pivotal agenda-setting moments in the 1990s and tracing the impact on contemporary research. The essay also “looks forward” to identify critical gaps and challenges that remain to be addressed and to set an agenda for future rese arch on population responses to environmental change. It recommends that the multidimensionality of environmental contexts and...
Source: Population and Environment - March 23, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Temperature, climate change, and birth weight: evidence from Hungary
AbstractWe analyze the impact of in utero temperature exposure on the birth weight and an indicator for low birth weight using administrative data on singleton live births conceived between 2000 and 2016 in Hungary. We find that exposure to high temperatures during pregnancy decreases birth weight, but its impact on the probability of low birth weight is weaker. Exposure to one additional hot day (mean temperature> 25 °C) during the gestation period reduces birth weight by 0.46 g, relative to a 15–20 °C day. The second and third trimesters appear to be slightly more sensitive to temperature exposure than the first...
Source: Population and Environment - March 18, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
