Title
Do migrants degrade coastal environments? Migration, natural resource extraction and poverty in North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Author(s)
Susan Cassels Susan Cassels (Princeton University)
Sara R. Curran Sara Curran (Princeton University)
Randall Kramer Randall Kramer (Duke University)
Abstract
Recent literature on migration and the environment has identified key mediating variables such as how migrants extract resources from the environment for their livelihoods, the rate and efficiency of extraction, and the social and economic context within which their extraction occurs. This paper tests these theories in a new ecological setting using data from coastal fishing villages in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. We do not find as many differences between migrant and non-migrant families regarding destructive fishing behavior, technology and investment as might have been expected from earlier theories. Instead, the context and timing of migrant assimilation seems to be more important in explaining apparent associations of migration and environmental impacts than simply migrants themselves. This finding fits well with recent literature in the field of international migration and immigrant incorporation.
Creation Date
2003-05
Section URL ID
OPR
Paper Number
opr0305.pdf
URL
https://web.archive.org/web/20150906195040/http://opr.princeton.edu/papers/opr0305.pdf
File Function
Jel
R23, Q22
Keyword(s)
Indonesia
Suppress
false
Series
11