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GLP | COVID-19, reverse migration, and the impact on land systems

Recently published blog by Sébastien Boillat and dr. Julie Zähringer on the impact of COVID-19 and reverse migration on land systems;

“The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world abruptly, affecting nearly all of humanity with breath-taking speed. At the time of writing in mid-September 2020, almost 20 million people have contracted the disease and more than 900,000 have died.[1] Besides its tragic direct toll on human lives, the pandemic is triggering a cascade of unexpected and dramatic effects that will deeply impact the global economy, social inequalities, and human–nature relationships in the coming years.[2]

Here, we wish to draw attention to an ongoing process that could have important consequences for land systems: that of reverse migration, or the return of migrant workers from cities to their rural areas of origin, especially in low- and middle-income countries.[3] To date, most reports on the mobility effects of the pandemic have emphasized international migration flows.[4] In this blog post, we focus instead on urban–rural migration flows triggered by COVID-19, and how they could affect the way land systems are used, understood, and governed in the future.”

Read full blog here!