title: Undocumented migration in response to climate change.
abstract: In the face of climate change induced economic uncertainty, households may employ migration as an adaptation strategy to diversify their livelihood portfolio through remittances. However, it is unclear whether such climate migration will be documented or undocumented. In this study we combine detailed migration histories with daily temperature and precipitation information for 214 weather stations to investigate whether climate change more strongly impacts undocumented or documented migration from 68 rural Mexican municipalities to the U.S. during the years 1986-1999. We employ two measures of climate change, the warm spell duration index (WSDI) and the precipitation during extremely wet days (R99PTOT). Results from multi-level event-history models demonstrate that climate-related international migration from rural Mexico was predominantly undocumented. We conclude that programs to facilitate climate change adaptation in rural Mexico may be more effective in reducing undocumented border crossings than increased border fortification.
authors: University of Minnesota, Minnesota Population Center, 225 19th Avenue South, 50 Willey Hall, Minneapolis, MN 55455.
authors: Raphael J
authors: RJ
authors: Nawrotzki
authors: University of Colorado Boulder, Institute of Behavioral Science, CU Population Center, 1440 15th Street, Boulder, CO 80302, U.S.A.
authors: Fernando
authors: F
authors: Riosmena
authors: University of Colorado Boulder, Institute of Behavioral Science, CU Population Center, 1440 15th Street, Boulder, CO 80302, U.S.A.
authors: Lori M
authors: LM
authors: Hunter
authors: The College of William and Mary; 427 Scotland Street, Williamsburg, VA 23185, U.S.A.
authors: Daniel M
authors: DM
authors: Runfola
keywords: Climate change; climate change adaptation; documentation status; environment; international migration; rural Mexico; undocumented migration