ABSTRACT
The Mahanadi Delta in Odisha has been witnessing significant male out-migration, often driven by climatic variability and extremes like rainfall uncertainty, flood, cyclone and surges, rising temperature and heat wave, water scarcity and crop failure. Migration patterns are diverse in terms of time and destinations. In this process, the women either migrate with families, or are left behind as heads of households.
This chapter is based on the data froma1414 household survey conducted in five coastal districts of the Mahanadi Delta of Odisha, India, which identified 189 women-headed households from the hazard prone areas. The conditions that promote out-migration, the impact of migration on life and livelihood of the women left behind, and nature of adaptation activities undertaken by them are analyzed. The chapter explores the socio-economic characteristics of the women-headed households with or without migrants to gauge the potential of migration to reduce their vulnerability in the face of climate change.
