Building Disaster-resilient Livelihoods Amid Change

The document examines how flooding and migration interact in Lao PDR, challenging the view of flooding as a singular driver of migration. Based on surveys of 157 households across four villages in Luang Prabang and Savannakhet, the study finds that vulnerability to floods is dynamic and influenced by ethnicity, government policies on infrastructure, and the political economy of households. It highlights that while physical exposure to floods in Laos is rated very high (9.8 out of 10), migration decisions are often linked to pre-existing networks, particularly in lowland areas near the Thailand border, and are part of a broader ensemble of livelihood strategies.

• Flooding is not the sole cause of individual migration in Lao PDR; instead, migration is one of several livelihood strategies available to households, influenced by the broader political, social, and environmental context of the country.
• Vulnerability to floods in Laos is dynamic and context-specific, shaped by societal conditions, politics, and policies, including government decisions on resettlement, infrastructure, and upland development, as well as the governance of identities and natural resources.
• Laos faces extreme physical exposure to floods, with a rating of 9.8 out of 10 on the 2015 EU Index for Risk Management (INFORM), despite a lower overall risk score of 4.3.
• Migration patterns vary by geography and ethnicity: lowland villages near the Thailand border are more likely to migrate due to existing networks and cultural influences, while mobility in upland villages is increasingly linked to new road networks and infrastructure-related occupational opportunities.

APA

Salamanca, A. (2015). Building Disaster-resilient Livelihoods Amid Change. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Initiatives/SEI-2016-UNISDR-Laos-flooding-poster.pdf

Chicago

Salamanca, Albert. Building Disaster-resilient Livelihoods Amid Change. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2015. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Initiatives/SEI-2016-UNISDR-Laos-flooding-poster.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Salamanca |first1=Albert |title=Building Disaster-resilient Livelihoods Amid Change |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2015 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Initiatives/SEI-2016-UNISDR-Laos-flooding-poster.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{salamanca2015building, author = {Salamanca, Albert}, title = {{Building Disaster-resilient Livelihoods Amid Change}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2015}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Initiatives/SEI-2016-UNISDR-Laos-flooding-poster.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }