Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This paper uses the case of Zambia to advance a new understanding of the rural–rural mobility dynamics in the context of climate change. Focusing on trends, determinants and underpinning conditions of rural–rural migration, analysis draws on documentary analyses of climate change policy and legal frameworks alongside interviews with state and non-state actors. . Findings indicate a growing recognition that Zambia has increasingly been experiencing extreme climatic events, particularily droughts, which frequently induce migration from the southern region to wetter and fertile agricultural central regions. The study shows the centrality of facilitating factors such as language and social networks in driving migration. While state actors show a concern that migration may cause environmental degradation and increase land tensions in the destination communities, rural–rural migration is not a central feature of climate‑adaptation strategies. Ultimately, the paper critiques push–pull frameworks that attempt to explain climate-induced migration, and instead advances an approach that places social-cultural perspectives at the center of migration dynamics.
Source: Oxford Development Studies
Author: Caroline Miti
Institution: Leeds Beckett University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: hybrid
Funder: Leeds Beckett University
OpenAlex ID: W7204496918