Sonam and Pema migrated a decade ago from eastern Bhutan to the southwest Pasakha Industrial Estate, located on the border with India.
The married couple were farmers, but Bhutan’s climate change impacts and interwoven rural crises, including escalating human-wildlife conflict, have made agriculture an increasingly challenging livelihood. Their village fields now lie fallow. With no higher education qualifications, and limited job prospects, Sonam and Pema sought factory jobs in Pasakha.
Bhutan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forests conducts the RNR Census, a comprehensive survey of rural livelihoods, agricultural productivity and natural resource management. Its 2019 edition found that 26,757 of Bhutan’s 268,711 hectares of arable land lay fallow. Our research (yet to be published) and intermittent reports from 2019 onwards suggest fallow land coverage is increasing.
In previous decades, the Bhutanese government focused on strategies to expand the country’s limited arable land and increase agricultural productivity. Today, policy attention has pivoted to countering rural depopulation and reviving fallow land.
Sonam and Pema’s trajectory reflects a nationwide trend of declining agricultural returns driving migration. In recent years, the migration of Bhutanese nationals to Australia, particularly of those in the 20-35 age bracket, has garnered significant attention. This trend holds both challenges and opportunities.
Most of these migrants are highly educated and possess a wide variety of skills that are in high demand in labour markets. Sonam and Pema’s internal migration and employment shift is another notable trend, but one that is often overlooked. In fact, Bhutan’s 2017 Population and Housing Census revealed 49.7 per cent of the resident population had relocated internally.
Climate change is an increasingly significant factor in these migration decisions. Elsewhere in South Asia, such as Nepal and India, the recognition of migration as an adaptation strategy is growing. It helps households diversify income sources, access opportunities and mitigate risks.
However, the precarious living and working conditions of migrant communities are often overlooked across the region. It leaves them vulnerable to climatic and socioeconomic risks, including exploitation and social marginalisation.
Pasakha’s risk-filled economic opportunities
In Pasakha, Sonam and Pema have built a makeshift home of wood and corrugated iron sheets. The mud flooring becomes a soggy mess during heavy rains and windstorms repeatedly loosen their roof. Yet, with no land of their own, investing in better housing is a risky prospect.
Their two children attend a local school, but getting there requires crossing a flood-prone river, making even their education highly vulnerable to climate impacts. Sonam recalls how her daughter, an excellent student, failed her sixth-grade exams after missing weeks of school on account of persistently bad weather: “That year, the monsoon was particularly heavy. The river flooded and the bridge was washed away.”
Health is another concern: pollution from the industrial estate causes respiratory issues, a problem exacerbated by their precarious housing situation. A 2021 environmental report co-published by the Bhutanese government and the Asian Development Bank revealed Pasakha’s air pollution was “alarmingly high”.
Furthermore, the industrial area has been hit by severe floods. A particularly devastating example in 2000 displaced nearly 200 families and left several factories damaged.
Kinley, another migrant worker originally from eastern Bhutan, was at work when floodwaters surged, sweeping away his home and possessions. His family was evacuated to nearby Phuentsholing – another border town – while he was stranded inside the factory for over a week, not knowing if they had survived. After a long trek on foot through India, Kinley was reunited with his family. With their home gone, the family moved into a rented single room in Jaigaon, across the border in India.
Kinley and his family were eventually able to rebuild their lives. The factory provided new housing, and he continued working there to educate his four children. His eldest daughter has since migrated to Australia. She sends remittances that significantly improve their living conditions.
This family’s experience reflects a broader pattern. Australia now hosts Bhutan’s largest migrant community, which has been swelled by second-generation migrants from areas including Pasakha. While this migration raises concerns about “brain drain” and labour shortages, it has also led to a sharp increase in remittance inflows.
In 2024, Bhutan recorded its highest ever remittance levels. This has sparked discussions about the country’s shift towards a remittance-driven economy. Many young adults from Pasakha’s industrial estate who seek stability aspire to follow the same path.
For Sonam and Pema, migration to Pasakha has enabled them to occasionally send money back to their family in the east. This offers crucial support as agricultural prospects in their home village continue to decline. The move to Pasakha has not only improved their immediate economic standing, but strengthened their extended family’s resilience to climate challenges.
Migration as a choice, not a necessity
Sonam, Pema and Kinley’s stories illustrate the duality of migration as an adaptation strategy. While it can provide economic relief, it can also expose people to high levels of pollution and extreme weather events.
For migration to be a truly successful adaptation strategy – rather than merely shifting climate risks from one setting to another – policy interventions must address migration, urban planning and rural resilience in tandem. A well-designed policy framework should ensure that migration benefits both those who leave and those who remain.
Across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, internal migrants often lack documentation. This makes it difficult for governmental agencies to track population movements, both at origin and destination points. Without this demographics data, it becomes challenging to effectively manage disaster risks, plan climate adaptations and deliver services.
There is an urgent need for urban policies that reduce climate risks and ensure marginalised migrant populations have access to essential services and economic opportunities.
At the same time, governmental and non-governmental agencies, including academia, must play a key role in bolstering rural lives and livelihoods as climate change impacts escalate. This would enable migration to always be a choice, for better opportunities, rather than a necessity, for survival.
This research was supported by the SUCCESS project, funded by UK aid from the UK government and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, as part of the Climate Adaptation and Resilience research programme. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the UK government, the IDRC, or its board of governors.
This article was originally published on Dialogue Earth under a Creative Commons licence.
