Vulnerable Deltas in Southeast Asia

Publications and activities

Project presentation on International Migrants Day (15 December 2023)

Contact

Dr. Carl Middleton for further details.

In this research, we aim to understand the opportunities and challenges faced by Burmese individuals and their families in Burmese migrant communities living in Bangkok, including their relationship with Thai communities. We also seek to understand the circumstances for their migration from Myanmar, including how economic struggles and debt, conflict and the coup, agrarian transformation and climate change influenced decisions to migrate. We will also study how connections are maintained and its implications for vulnerability or resilience, including flows of remittances and other resources, between Bangkok and home communities in Myanmar.

We also aim to build educational capacity with Chulalongkorn University graduate students, mainly but not only from Thailand and Myanmar, on the topic of migration and climate change as well as on research methods that we are employing in this project. The latter part of the project seeks to build possible collaborative projects with Burmese migrant communities who want to communicate their messages to broader policy audiences, such as through mixed media. We also plan to work with other Thai migrant NGO networks and Thai policy makers to influence NGO strategic planning and national policy in Thailand on environmental parameters related to Burmese migration.

Our research is part of a larger multisited project that aims to address the multidimensional vulnerabilities facing three major deltas in Southeast Asia: Chao Phraya Delta in Bangkok to Suphan Buri, Thailand; the Mekong Delta in An Giang Province, Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and the Mahakam Delta in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Project Partners:

 This project is a collaboration between:

●      The East-West Center

●      The Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

●      The M.A. and Ph.D. Program in International Development Studies (MAIDS-GRID), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University  

This project is financially supported by the Henry Luce Foundation.