The Relationship Between Resources and Human Migration Patterns in Central Kamchatka During the Post-Soviet Period

• Main Author: Hitztaler, Stephanie K.
• Other Authors: School of Natural Resources, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48109-1115, Ann Arbor
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers; Human Sciences Press, Inc. 2004
• Subjects: Out-migration; Population Economics; Geography; Public Health/Gesundheitswesen; Demography; Sociology; Community & Environmental Psychology; Natural Resource Scarcity; Population Decline; Central Kamchatka; Post-Soviet Period; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Population and Demography; Science; Social Sciences; Kamchatka
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/43506; https://doi.org/10.1023/B:POEN.0000036485.90236.a8

This paper examines the relationship between resources and migration in post-Soviet Kamchatka (Russian Far East). During the post-Soviet period of socio-economic hardship, migration trends have changed drastically both in central Kamchatka and throughout the Russian Far East. I predicted that there would be a clear relationship between resource scarcity and people's decisions to leave in search of more propitious opportunities. Against the backdrop of economic decline, out-migration prevailed in central Kamchatka throughout the post-Soviet period; however, migration patterns among villages in this rural and resource-dependent region diverge considerably. Villages in central Kamchatka facing a local natural resource crisis show greater net negative migration than those with a relatively intact resource base. Such variation is notable, given the relatively contained area of the study; it suggests migration patterns are closely tied to ecological conditions. Besides socio-economic and ecological factors, historical circumstances also influence migration patterns. The decision to migrate is complex, arising from the interaction of socio-economic, political, ecological, and historical conditions. Peer Reviewed http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43506/1/11111_2004_Article_489378.pdf