30 Mar Migration as Climate Adaptation: Insights from Odisha Vikash Conclave 2025

Posted at 11:41h in Research by

Written by Lata Biswal and Alex Thomas (with inputs from Sheetal Patil)
Edited by Sofia Juliet Rajan
Design & Layout: Midhun Mohan, Satybrat Sukla

The sixth edition of the Odisha Vikash Conclave (OVC) 2025 was convened around the theme ‘Pathways to Climate-Resilient and People-Centric Development’. Designed as a multi-stakeholder platform, the Conclave brought together government representatives, civil society organisations, researchers, practitioners, and community leaders to reflect on Odisha’s development pathways amid accelerating climate risks.

The opening plenary underscored the importance of demographic transitions, women’s labour force participation, and decentralised climate action. Gram Vikas, IIHS, and CMID anchored a breakout panel titled Enabling Well-being and Strengthening Adaptive Capacity through Migration, under the thematic pillar on Addressing Vulnerability Multipliers, focusing on Relocation, Migration and Climate Justice. This panel reframed migration—not merely as a symptom of vulnerability, but as a potential pathway for adaptation, dignity, and opportunity when appropriately supported.

Liby T Johnson, Executive director, Gram Vikas, introduces the thematic track on Relocation, Migration and Climate Justice. Credit: Arya M Sankar, Gram Vikas

Migration as Adaptation, Not Failure

The session challenged the long-standing assumption in climate policy that migration is a failure to adapt in place. Drawing on emerging empirical evidence from climate-affected regions across Odisha, speakers demonstrated how mobility is increasingly being used as a deliberate coping and adaptation strategy in response to livelihood stress, crop uncertainty, and environmental change.

Benoy Peter, Executive Director, CMID, presented evidence from Kalahandi and Gajapati districts showing how climate stress has reshaped agrarian livelihoods and mobility patterns. In parts of Gajapati, the declining viability of shifting cultivation has led to seasonal and permanent migration, often aligned with agricultural lean periods and past harvest outcomes. Similarly, migration streams from Thuamul Rampur in Kalahandi, established since the 1990s, reveal diverse mobility patterns, including short-term, seasonal, and long-term circular migration. 

These movements have generated remittances with cascading benefits in source regions, including asset creation, investment in education and diversification of local livelihoods.

Benoy Peter, Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID), Sheetal Patil, Lead, School of Environment and Sustainability, IIHS, and Nihal Ranjit, Senior Associate, SES at IIHS discuss how migration, planned relocation and rural adaptation together shape resilient futures. Credit: Arya M Sankar, Gram Vikas

Livelihoods, Remittances, and Local Futures

Discussions highlighted the positive role of migration in livelihood diversification, and value addition, particularly when remittances are reinvested in enterprises, assets, agriculture, and allied activities. Experiences from Surada, Daringbadi, and Rayagada blocks in southern Odisha showed how migration outcomes vary depending on vulnerability profiles, social infrastructure, and access to planning processes.

The session also reflected on emerging approaches such as village-level participatory resilience planning and foresight-based scenario building, which integrate climate change and migration into local development strategies. These approaches move beyond reactive responses, positioning mobility with longer-term adaptive futures aligned with Odisha’s Vision 2036 and 2047.

Insights from the CLAPs project on in-place adaptation and local governance in Ganjam, Gajapati and Kandhamal districts.

Relocation, Housing and Wellbeing

A critical strand of discussion focused on relocation and resettlement in climate-exposed landscapes. Nihal Ranjit cautioned against relocation initiatives narrowly conceived as housing projects that overlook access to livelihoods, services, and cultural continuity. When treated primarily as infrastructure interventions, relocation efforts risk undermining well-being and social cohesion. Panellists called for more holistic approaches that embed housing within broader habitat planning and risk reduction.

Policy insights on climate-related planned relocation from the CLAPs project in Ganjam and Kendrapada districts. Credit: Arya M Sankar, Gram Vikas

Voices from the Ground

Nanjoy Pradhan, a sarpanch from Daringbadi block, shared how migration to Kerala enabled households to secure stable incomes—often significantly higher than local wages—while also supporting political participation and leadership aspirations. 

❝I migrated to Kerala so that I could support my sister’s education. But I returned because I had a dream—to do something for my village. Today, I am proud to serve as a Sarpanch of Danekbadi and to be what I once aspired to become.❞

– Nanjoy Pradhan

Rajesh Pradhan, a return migrant hailing from Kandhamal district, shared how migration enabled him to establish a business back home: 

❝I went to Kerala after completing my 12th grade to work as a wage labourer. After many years there, I returned home and started a fast-food shop. Today, I run my own shop and earn a good income.❞

– Rajesh Pradhan

These accounts underscored that mobility, when supported by institutions and local governments, can strengthen agency rather than diminish it.

Insights from the CLAPs project on in-place adaptation and local governance in Ganjam, Gajapati and Kandhamal districts.

Nanjoy Pradhan, sarpanch of Danekbadi gram panchayat, shares his journey from migrant worker to local leader. Credit: Arya M Sankar

Making Migration a Choice

A recurring theme was the need to enable migration as an informed choice rather than a compulsion. When safe and dignified, migration can strengthen both origin regions through remittances and destination regions through labour contributions. This requires recognising climate-augmented migration, strengthening resilient livelihoods at source, empowering local governments, ensuring inclusive urban planning at destination, and protecting cultural and social ties, particularly for tribal and coastal communities.

Government representatives Gayatri Dutta Nayak (Joint Secretary, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department, Government of Odisha) and B.M. Mohapatra (Joint Labour Commissioner, Labour Department, Government of Odisha) underscored the importance of long-term, coordinated strategies across departments to address distress migration while enabling safe mobility in coordination with destination states. They also noted the lack of comprehensive migration data as a key constraint, reinforcing the need for baseline surveys, clearer definitions of migrant categories, and stronger  institutional mechanisms.

Key Takeaways

The panel concluded with of the following recommendations:

  • Develop a state-level labour migration policy that recognises climate-induced mobility.
  • Operationalise the migration corridor approach in coordination with destination states.
  • Clearly define the role of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and provide resources to address climate-augmented migration.
  • Establish migration resource centres in migration-prone blocks.
  • Strengthen implementation of the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979, including 100% worker registration at the panchayat level.
  • Expanded research on mental health impacts of migration, workplace safety and employment vulnerabilities to strengthen protection mechanisms. 
  • Improve convergence of existing funds and programmes through platforms like OVC to advance climate resilience.


The Relocation, Migration and Climate Justice plenary at OVC 2025 marked an important shift in discourse—from treating migration as a problem to recognising mobility as integral to Odisha’s climate adaptation agenda. By centering justice, dignity, and choice, the discussion reinforced the need for policies and planning frameworks that embed mobility within resilient and people-centric development in a climate-constrained future.

Further Reading:

  1. Gram Vikas, & CMID (2024). Profiling Labour Migration from Daringbadi Block, Kandhamal District.
    https://www.gramvikas.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Migration-Profile-Daringbadi-Final-Web-Gram-Vikas-CMID.pdf
  2. Gram Vikas, & CMID (2020). Migration from Remote Rural Odisha: Thuamal Rampur Block, Kalahandi District .
    https://cmid.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Migration-from-RemoteRuralOdisha-17-Nov-20-Gram-Vikas-CMID-Web.pdf
  3. Forest, Environment and Climate Change Department, Government of Odisha. Odisha Climate Change Action Plan for 2021-30.
    https://climatechangecellodisha.org/pdf/Odisha_SAPCC_2021-30..pdf

    4. Gram Vikas, & CMID (2024). Labour Migration from Rural Odisha: Surada Block, Ganjam District. https://www.gramvikas.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Migration-Profile-Surada-Block-Ganjam-Odisha-Web-Gram-Vikas-CMID-Aug-24.pdf

    5. Gram Vikas, & CMID (2021). Labour Migration from Rural Odisha: Profiles of Four Blocks.
    https://www.gramvikas.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Migration-Profiles-4-blocks-Summary-Document.pdf