9. Linking Migration, Mobility, and Development for Strengthening Adaptation to Climate and Disaster Risks: Reflections from Nepal

Migration is becoming a common multidimensional phenomenon in Nepal. Nepal is becoming an increasingly heavy remittance-based economy, mainly from labor migration. Furthermore, in the past few years, migrant returnees are becoming a model for Nepali people as they are not only engaged in the diversification of livelihoods options, but also promote local level development as an effective means of enhancing resilience and sustainability. This phenomenon is, however, also causing some negative consequences. Migration, in the past, has often been seen either from a humanitarian perspective (problem and crisis focused) or unidirectionally (from poor countries to rich countries). However, in this chapter, we examine migration from a mobility and development perspective. Our conceptual framework uses the mobility lens to analyze migration issues with a specific focus on the development agenda of Nepal. We argue that migration and sustainable development debate have links with mobility. The concept of mobility also includes corporate movement, infrastructure enabling mobility, capitalist spatial restructuring, tourism, and travel. These all have direct and indirect relations with development, disasters, and climate change issues. This chapter therefore concludes that migration is multidimensional and a proper understanding of the relationship between sustainable development and migration requires further in-depth examination of these dimensions with special focus on linking migration-development discourse with mobility perspectives.