Resilience from Within
Social Networks as a Mitigator of Climate-induced Migration
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22010107 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tadala Chikopa (University of Malawi), Farai Chigaru (0009-0008-0217-684X, University of Malawi, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-29 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Migration and Development (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2163-2324 • E-ISSN: 2163-2332 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/21632324261458610 |
| OpenAlex | W7166580708 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 70 |
Climate shocks frequently undermine livelihoods in agrarian economies, prompting households to adopt adverse coping strategies such as migration. Although social networks are recognised as informal insurance mechanisms, their role in mediating climate-induced migration remains underexplored. This study examines how social networks mediate the effect of flooding on migration decisions in Malawi, using the 2019/2020 Malawi Living Standards Measurement Survey and geospatial flood data. Employing causal mediation analysis, we address endogeneity using control function and Lewbel approaches and mitigate selection bias through Heckman correction, propensity score matching and Rosenbaum bound sensitivity tests. Baseline results show a significant mediation effect of 0.041 percentage points, corresponding to a 2.41% compensatory reduction in migration. The mediation effect is statistically significant only for low-intensity flooding (SPI ≥ 1) and among rural households, suggesting that social networks act as substitutive risk-coping mechanisms for relatively vulnerable populations. These findings imply that policy interventions should move beyond reliance on formal financial instruments and instead leverage existing social networks as cost-effective, community-based platforms for climate adaptation. By identifying an actionable pathway through which adaptive capacity can be strengthened, this research contributes directly to achieving SDG 13 on climate action
Adaptive capacity · Endogeneity · Livelihood · Mediation · Psychological intervention · Psychological resilience · Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration · Disaster Management and Resilience · Flood Risk Assessment and Management
Observational Studies
Balance diagnostics after propensity score matching
The Economic Impacts of Climate Change
Sample Selection Bias as a Specification Error
How social capital can inform targeting formal social safety net interventions in vulnerable communities in eastern Ethiopia
Domestic and international migration intentions in response to environmental stress
Climate shocks, vulnerability, resilience and livelihoods in rural Zambia
Determinants of households' flood risk coping strategies in a high exposure system of the Manafwa catchment and Lake Kyoga Basin
Droughts and floods in Malawi
Does international migration impact economic institutions at home
Using Heteroscedasticity to Identify and Estimate Mismeasured and Endogenous Regressor Models
What Drives Youth’s Intention to Migrate Abroad? Evidence from International Survey Data
Washed away
Environmental change, adaptation strategies and the relevance of migration in Sub-Saharan drylands
The decline in mine migrancy and increase in informal labour migration from northern Malawi to South Africa, 1970s-1980s
Exploring migration decision-making and agricultural adaptation in the context of climate change
Decision‐making factor interactions influencing climate migration
Somebody to Lean On
Climate change and migration
Amplification or suppression
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Social networks and the intention to migrate
Public good provision and democracy
Temporary migration and climate variation in eastern Africa
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Migration Dynamics, Entrepreneurship, and African Development
The Effect of Social Capital on Health Among European Older Adults
Social capital's role in recovery
Asymptotic Confidence Intervals for Indirect Effects in Structural Equation Models
Exploring the role of social capital in advancing climate change mitigation and disaster risk reduction
Bowling Alone
After the Flood
Social Networks and Coping with Poverty in Rural Areas
Analysis of social interaction network properties and growth on Twitter
Sibling support and the educational prospects of young adults in Malawi
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |