Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Impacts of Rural-to-Urban Labor Migration on the Rural Environment in Chongqing, China

人口与环境的关系是研究人类社会与生态系统关系的重要内容。最近关于人口与环境的研究已将研究重点转向人口过程中更具活力的因素-迁移。然而，很少有研究已经进行了环境影响的移民，特别是循环劳动力迁移的农村社区的移民起源。自20世纪80年代初以来，中国农村劳动力向城市迁移的规模不断扩大，形成了世界历史上规模最大的人口流动。本博士论文研究项目的主要目标是更好地了解这种大规模的循环劳动力迁移运动如何通过对农村家庭生计和社区互动过程的影响来影响农村环境。分析将主要基于从重庆市收集的经验数据，重庆市的农村到城市的劳动力迁移率目前是中国最高的（2006年为51.7%）。本项目将采用混合方法，将定量和定性方法联合收割机结合起来。具体而言，将采用三种不同的数据收集和分析方法：二手数据、住户调查和关键信息提供者访谈。调查结果将显示劳动力迁移和非劳动力迁移家庭在农村生计过程中的差异，包括农业实践，日常消费和自然资源使用，并将探讨随后的环境结果，包括农田肥力，土壤侵蚀和环境保护。这项研究还将证明社区在改变劳动力外移对原籍地区当地生态条件的影响方面的作用。这篇博士论文研究项目解决了一个未充分研究的问题，在移民与环境之间的关系，在一个未充分研究的地区。该项目对现存文献的潜在贡献是双重的。在理论上，本研究将整合社区的概念，作为一个重要的中介因素的迁移和环境框架的基础上综合的文献。实证方面，本研究将评估这一概念框架在中国西南地区重庆农村的有效性。该项目将是第一个深入研究农村劳动力向城市迁移对中国农村环境影响的项目。本研究的研究结果有可能为中国和其他发展中国家提供政策启示，以提高日益参与劳动力迁移和城市化发展的农村地区的生态和社会经济可持续性。该项目与中国大学和研究人员的合作关系也可能对移民环境研究领域的国际学术产生长期的影响。

The relationship between population and the environment holds an important role in research on the linkage between human society and ecological systems. Recent studies on population and the environment have turned research focus toward the more dynamic factor of population processes -- migration. However, few studies have been conducted on the environmental impacts of migration particularly circular labor migration in the rural communities from which migrants originate. The increasing rural-to-urban labor migration in China since the early 1980's has formed the largest population flow in world history. The primary objective of this doctoral dissertation research project is to obtain a better understanding of how this large-scale circular labor migration movement impacts the rural environment through its influence on rural household livelihoods and community interaction processes. The analysis will mainly be based on empirical data collected from Chongqing Municipality, where the rural-to-urban labor migration rate is currently the highest in China (51.7 percent in 2006). This project will use a mixed-methods approach to combine both quantitative and qualitative methods. Specifically, three different methods of data collection and analysis will be employed: secondary data, household surveys, and key informant interviews. The findings will show the differences between labor-migrant and non-labor-migrant households with respect to rural livelihood processes including agricultural practices, daily consumption and natural resource use, and will explore the subsequent environmental outcomes in terms of farmland fertility, soil erosion, and environmental conservation. The study will also demonstrate the role of community in modifying the influence of labor out-migration on the local ecological conditions in areas of origin. This doctoral dissertation research project addresses an understudied question in the relationship between migration and environment in an under-examined region. The potential contribution of this project to the extant literature is twofold. Theoretically, this study will integrate the concept of community as an important mediating factor into the migration and environment framework based on a synthesis of literature. Empirically, this study will assess the efficacy of this conceptual framework in the setting of rural Chongqing in Southwest China. This project will be the first in-depth research on the impacts of rural-to-urban labor migration on the rural environment in China. The research findings of this study have the potential to provide policy implications for China and other developing countries to enhance the ecological and socioeconomic sustainability of the rural areas that are increasingly involved in labor migration and urbanization development. The collaborative relations with Chinese universities and researchers cultivated in this project may also lead to productive and long-term impacts on international scholarship in the migration-environment research area.