Advanced International Journal for Research

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Climate Change, Livelihood Disruptions, and Rural–Urban Migration in India: A Sustainable Livelihood and Climate Justice Perspective

Author(s) Dr. Chandrima Ghosh, Dr. Gargi Basu
Country India
Abstract Climate change is intensifying environmental stressors—rising temperatures, erratic precipitation, sea-level rise, and more frequent extreme events—with profound consequences for livelihoods and human mobility. In India, where large rural populations depend on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, and forestry, recurring droughts, floods, cyclones, heatwaves, and irregular monsoons increasingly erode livelihood security and contribute to displacement and rural-to-urban migration, notably in the Sundarbans, coastal Odisha, flood-prone Bihar, and Uttarakhand. This study aims to elucidate the link between climate change and rural–urban migration in India by examining livelihood disruptions, associated socio-economic vulnerabilities, challenges encountered by migrants in urban destinations, and policy options to strengthen resilience and protect vulnerable groups. Using a qualitative, descriptive design based primarily on secondary sources (including government and international agency reports, census and policy documents, and peer-reviewed literature), the study synthesizes evidence through thematic analysis guided by the Sustainable Livelihood Framework, complemented by Political Ecology, Environmental Migration Theory, and Climate Justice Theory. Findings indicate that climate hazards undermine natural, physical, financial, human, and social capital, reducing agricultural productivity, damaging infrastructure, degrading ecosystems, and deepening debt, food insecurity, and poverty; migration thus emerges as a seasonal, circular, temporary, or permanent coping and adaptation strategy, shaped by ecological pressures interacting with inequality, limited livelihood diversification, and governance constraints. Vulnerability is uneven, disproportionately affecting small and marginal farmers, landless workers, women, indigenous communities, and lower caste groups; gendered impacts include feminization of agriculture and heightened risks for women migrants in informal urban labor markets. Urban destinations often reproduce or intensify vulnerability through insecure employment, inadequate housing, barriers to welfare and services, exposure to heat and flooding, and social marginalization, as starkly revealed during the COVID-19 lockdowns. The study concludes that climate-induced migration should be recognized as both adaptation and a symptom of structural vulnerability, requiring integrated policies that build climate-resilient rural livelihoods, mainstream migration in adaptation planning, ensure portability of social protection, strengthen labor and housing, develop climate-resilient cities, and advance climate justice through inclusive governance and targeted support for vulnerable populations
Keywords Climate change, Environmental stressors, Rural-urban migration, Livelihood disruptions, Socio-economic vulnerabilities, Sustainable Livelihood Framework, Climate Justice Theory, Climate-resilient livelihoods, Climate-resilient cities, Climate-induced migration, Adaptation, Structural vulnerability
Published In Volume 7, Issue 3, May-June 2026
Published On 2026-06-15
DOI https://doi.org/10.63363/aijfr.2026.v07i03.6394
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