How Do Left-Behind Families Adapt to the Salinity-Induced Male Out-Migration Context? A Case Study of Shyamnagar Sub-District in Coastal Bangladesh

Abstract

The knowledge regarding male out-migration due to climate change and large-scale, rapid-onset disasters and their impacts on the left-behind families is well known. However, research on the adaptation strategies for the families left behind due to disaster-induced male-out seasonal migration is rarely carried out. Thus, this study attempts to explore the coping and adaptation strategies adopted by the left-behind families in the salinity-induced male out-migration context. Analyzing the factors affecting the adaptation behaviors is also a major objective of this study. The study was carried out in Shyamnagar sub-district of coastal Bangladesh, where male-out seasonal migration for both rapid and slow-onset disasters is evidenced. The data regarding the adaptation measures were explored through different participatory rural appraisal techniques. Primary data were collected from 213 women from the left-behind families through a semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics as well as multiple linear regression for analyzing the factors affecting adaptation behaviors were applied. The results revealed that the left-behind families, especially the women and children, adopted a total of 35 coping and adaptation strategies in five different aspects, such as economic adaptation, social adaptation measures, environmental measures, educational measures, and health-related measures. Migrant husbands’ age and their education, the household’s alternative income sources’ availability, receiving loans, disaster history, and migration history variables contributed most significantly to the adaptation behavior. This study provides a new perspective on seasonal male out-migration and the adaptation strategies of the left-behind families, which could be helpful for disaster-induced human migration management and enhancing the resilience of vulnerable communities.