Poster #49 - Do Remittances Build Climate Resilience? Evidence from a Systematic Review

• In Event: Friday Poster Reception

Abstract

Climate shocks are becoming more frequent and severe across low- and middle-income countries. International remittances have become part of the conversation around household resilience to climate stress. Development agencies and climate adaptation programs have begun incorporating remittance flows into social protection strategies, yet what the evidence actually shows about whether remittances reduce climate risk and support household adaptation across different contexts and disciplines is still poorly understood. This review asks how international remittances shape household responses to climate and livelihood stress in the Global South. It examines two specific pathways: whether remittances reduce households' perceived severity of environmental shocks and thereby influence their decision to adapt or migrate, and whether remittance receipt enables households to invest in in-place adaptation rather than move.We followed PRISMA guidelines and conducted multi-database searches using keywords drawn from three conceptual domains: remittances, climate and environmental shocks, and household responses. Data for this review are drawn from peer-reviewed empirical studies identified through systematic searches of Web of Science, Scopus, and related databases. We identified approximately 700 studies, of which over 150 passed title and abstract screening based on pre-specified inclusion and exclusion criteria. Full-text review and data extraction are underway, with synthesis targeted for completion by Summer 2026.Preliminary patterns show that remittances consistently function as a post-shock consumption buffer. Studies from Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, West Africa, and Somalia, including quasi-experimental work using natural disasters as exogenous shocks, support a causal risk reduction effect on income losses and consumption drops. The adapt-in-place versus migration pathway tells a more contested story. Some studies frame migration and remittance flows as complementary strategies, where households send members away and use resulting transfers to invest in in-place adaptation. Others find that households predominantly consume remittances rather than channel them into durable adaptive capacity. Evidence on risk perception is thin, representing a critical gap with direct policy relevance. Geographic coverage concentrates heavily in South and Southeast Asia and West Africa, which leaves Central Asia, the Middle East, and Pacific small island developing states underrepresented. Several studies also report null or negative findings, including evidence that remittance-dependent households sometimes face greater structural vulnerability following shocks.The idea that remittances build climate resilience has moved faster than the evidence supporting it. For policymakers designing climate adaptation programs in remittance-dependent economies, these gaps matter. Whether remittances translate into durable adaptive capacity, and how they shape household risk perception, remain questions the literature has not yet answered clearly enough to inform policy with confidence.

Author

• Azmery Sultana Hera, Pennsylvania State University
  Presenting Author