Living with Water: Climate Induced Migration, Displacement, and Identity Reconstruction in Multan’s Riverine Belt

Abstract

Climate induced migration is gaining momentum in South Asia and the riverine belts of Pakistan are increasingly experiencing displacement of people caused by unpredictable monsoons and the increasing floods. This paper examines how communities in the flood-prone areas of the city of Multan are coping with the constant risk of seasonal flooding and the socio-cultural change that ensues after displacement. The study concentrates on the riverine communities located around the Chenab and Sutlej rivers, and examines how the environmental uncertainty is forcing rural households to migrate either temporarily or permanently, and how the so-called internal migration is undermining the traditional ways of livelihood, social relationships and group identities. The research is based on a qualitative research design, which includes interviews, focus groups and field observations, and addresses the interaction between ecological vulnerability, forced mobility and identity renegotiation. It stresses that climate displacement is not just a material loss, but an existential rupture that re-writes local histories, gender roles, and intergenerational memory. The results provide valuable implications on how to design locally-based, equity-sensitive climate adaptation policy, which focuses on physical relocation and social reintegration. Finally, the study aims at reconsidering displacement as a humanitarian issue but as a place of resiliency, resistance, and a reconstruction of identity.