Benefits and dis-benefits of climate migration as an adaptive strategy in Namibia

Researchers found that climate hazards like flooding and drought drive migration from rural to peri-urban areas in Namibia. While migration provides benefits such as better access to electricity and educational opportunities, it creates human capital deficits in origin communities, often increasing the labour burden on women.

• Climate-related hazards, specifically flooding and drought, act as push factors driving migration from rural areas to urban and peri-urban centres in north and central Namibia.
• Migration serves as an adaptation strategy by providing access to affordable energy and electricity, which enables mechanised cooling, extended working hours, and increased educational opportunities.
• Out-migration creates a human capital deficit in rural communities of origin, which often results in gendered impacts by increasing the demands on women regarding on-farm labour and community development initiatives when men migrate.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2023). Benefits and dis-benefits of climate migration as an adaptive strategy in Namibia. https://www.sei.org/publications/benefits-climate-migration-adaptive-namibia

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Benefits and dis-benefits of climate migration as an adaptive strategy in Namibia. 2023. https://www.sei.org/publications/benefits-climate-migration-adaptive-namibia.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Benefits and dis-benefits of climate migration as an adaptive strategy in Namibia |date=22 March 2023 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/benefits-climate-migration-adaptive-namibia |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2023benefits, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Benefits and dis-benefits of climate migration as an adaptive strategy in Namibia}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2023}, month = mar, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/benefits-climate-migration-adaptive-namibia}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }