CIESIN director Alex de Sherbinin and former CIESIN postdocs Fabien Cottier and Robin Van Duijne conducted fieldwork in Bangalore, India, in June, focused on the motivations of migrants from rural areas to the city. They were assisted by Columbia graduate students Siddhi Vora (MS in Climate), Emilio Leguizamo (PhD in Sust Dev), and Manini Menon and Benjamin Miyakawa (MA in Development Practice), as well as several students from the National Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS). The survey probed questions around agrarian distress, migrant perspectives on agricultural livelihoods, experiences of climate-related harm to crops or possessions, as well as on urban insertion. The survey found a general pessimism related to the potential to gain one's livelihood and support a family through agriculture, as well as widespread experiences of climate-related damages from floods, cyclones, heatwaves and drought.
The research was carried out with funding from the President's Global Innovation Fund (PGIF).
