Migration and Environmental Change: tenure insecurity in a Zambian frontier

发展中国家的移民是环境变化的重要力量。移徙者与其他移徙者和当地社区在获取资源方面相互影响，特别是粮食安全所需的土地资源。土地权利（土地使用权）在影响移徙者如何与目的地资源和社区互动以及由此产生的环境后果方面发挥着主要作用。本研究考察了赞比亚森林砍伐与移民之间的联系，并侧重于促进土地获取的权属安排。赞比亚是世界上森林砍伐率最高的国家之一，大量移民正在进行中，这是南部省份移民与环境退化联系在一起的一个代表性案例。这项研究将考察东道社区的土地所有权制度如何可能导致移徙者进入比当前农业需要大得多的森林砍伐区。这组科学家是一名人类学家和一名地理学家，他们将与赞比亚的同事合作进行人种学研究，将这些数据与卫星图像（时间序列）分析结合起来，以测量森林砍伐率，并将比较移民地区和非移民地区的森林砍伐率。在赞比亚为期七个月的密集实地调查中，研究人员将调查当地领导人分配给移民的土地所有权，以及移民对这一所有权过程的看法，以便解释：1)移民的权利主张概念，以及为什么他们显然试图通过砍伐森林来获得保有权保障；2)考虑到土地保有制度（包括土地分配和继承）在目的地地区和原籍地区对移民的作用不同，权利主张、土地清理和对儿童未来的担忧之间的交集。了解移民与毁林联系的土地权制方面将提供关于发展中国家的移民如何改变环境的重要知识，并为正在发展的将遥感与“实地”社会科学研究相结合的方法提供重要的知识。这项研究的更广泛影响包括提高我们对发展中国家管理移民的政策限制和机会的理解。由于所有社会都有管理产权的规则，涉及移徙和发展的地方、国家和国际政策和条约将需要注意影响粮食和生计安全的资源获取安排。

Migration in the developing world is an important force in environmental change. Migrants interact with other migrants and with local communities over access to resources - in particular the land resources needed for food security. Rights in land (land tenure) play a primary role in affecting how migrants interact with destination resources and communities, and the resulting environmental consequences. This research examines the links between deforestation and migration in Zambia, and focuses on the tenure arrangements that facilitate land access. With one of the highest deforestation rates in the world and significant migration underway, Zambia provides a representative case where migration in Southern province is tied to environmental degradation. The research will examine how land tenure systems in host communities may lead migrants to clear areas of forest much larger than needed for immediate farming needs. The researchers, an anthropologist and a geographer, will collaborate with Zambian colleagues to conduct ethnographic research, and integrate the data with satellite imagery (time series) analysis in order to measure deforestation rates, and will compare deforestation rates between migrant and non-migrant areas. During seven months of intensive fieldwork in Zambia, the researchers will investigate the land tenure rights allocated to migrants by local leaders, and the perception of this tenure process among migrants, in order to explain: 1) notions of claim among migrants and why they apparently attempt to gain tenure security through deforestation, and 2) the intersection of claims, land clearing, and concerns about children's future, given that land tenure systems (involving land allocation and inheritance) work differently for migrants in the destination area than they did in the area of origin. Understanding the land tenure aspects of the migration - deforestation linkage will provide important knowledge on how migration in the developing world changes the environment, and to the ongoing development of methodologies that mix remote sensing with 'on the ground' social science research. Broader impacts of the research include improving our understanding of the policy constraints and opportunities for managing migration in the developing world. Because all societies have rules governing property rights, local, national and international policies and treaties involving migration and development will need to attend to resource access arrangements that impact food and livelihood security.