Migration, Water & Agriculture

Migration is transforming rural communities as people move in search of new employment opportunities and livelihoods. There are an estimated 272 million migrants globally, making up 3.5% of the world’s population, and nearly two-thirds are labor migrants. Understanding the factors which push people away from home communities and pull them to new towns, cities and countries can help in understanding trends in rural transformation. For instance, water stress and agricultural livelihoods can be a factor in migration decisions, suggesting an important role for water governance in migration policy making. At the same time, however, migration decisions are linked to complex socio-economic, political and environmental factors, many of which go far beyond the availability of and access to natural resources. Moreover, migration varies considerably in type – some movement can be internal – within a country— or international; and those who move may do so seasonally, for part of the year, or over the long-term. Some, indeed, are permanent.

IWMI takes a ‘positive migration’ approach where migration is not ‘problematized,’ but rather seen as an adaptation technique in response to climate variability, economic stress, socio-political factors and personal aspirations. Our work focuses on five areas which aim to understand migration patterns, build resilience for migrant and home communities and develop policies to improve governance and facilitate safe, orderly and regular migration. All the focus areas contribute to the broader ambitions of a unified One CGIAR delivering an ambitious Research and Innovation Strategy.  Our goal is to build resilient, food secure migrant and home communities focused on reducing poverty, adapting to climate variability, improving livelihood opportunities and enhancing social inclusion.

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