Conference Agenda

Understanding resilience and adaptive capacity is essential for analyzing how households respond to environmental shocks. While prior research has focused extensively on the role of human capital and work-related income in shaping adaptive capacity, less is known about the impact of non-work income—such as remittances or support from neighbors, NGOs, or governments—on migration decisions. This study examines how non-work income is associated with in situ well-being and migration choices in the aftermath of environmental shocks. We argue that non-work income may enable both in situ adaptation and migration as a successful adaptation strategy. Unlike work-related income, which is often disrupted during environmental shocks, non-work income may function as a stable safety net, allowing households to address immediate needs. Using original panel survey data from approximately 1,700 household heads along the Jamuna River in Bangladesh—a region highly vulnerable to floods and riverbank erosion—we examine self-reported affectedness over three consecutive monsoon seasons. Controlling for household characteristics, findings indicate that under environmental shocks, non-work income is associated with higher capability to migrate. However, the type of non-work income matters, with remittances linked to more sustained benefits than intermittent aid from NGOs or government. These findings underscore the importance of integrating targeted, reliable non-work income support - such as remittance facilitation, government subsidies, community-based programs, and access to loans and savings - within broader climate adaptation policies.