Abstract Panel


Authors Information
SequenceTypeName TitleFirst NameLast NameDepartmentInstitute / Affiliation
1 Author Prof. Thomas Reuter Asia Institute University of Melbourne
Abstract Information
TrackID
:
IUAES23_ABS_R6507
Abstract Theme
:
P011 - Food for the Future: Livelihoods, Food Systems Security, Resilience and Renewal in the Age of Permacrisis
Abstract Title
:
Reversals in Long-standing Mobility Trends during the Pandemic: Lessons for Indonesia and other developing countries
Short Abstract
:
This paper explores reverse mobility of hundreds thousands of urban workers in Indonesia during Covid-19 lockdowns and, similarly, of international migrants and tourism industry workers. Left without livelihoods, many returned to their rural places of origin to rely on family networks. We know little about how they survived, and what structures aided them and thus deserve strong government support in view of future crises. I argue the key is supporting smallholder agriculture.
Long Abstract
:

This presentation aims to explore the reversal of mobility under the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequences this had on hundreds thousands of people in Indonesia. Countless urban workers were forced to return to the countryside when lockdowns terminated their precarious employment overnight, and in the absence of such state safety nets as were available to workers in a few wealthy nations. A similar fate befell international migrant workers, unable to travel across borders. Restricted international mobility also affected tourism industries and hence tourism workers, most notably in Bali. Left without livelihoods, many returned to their places of origin to rely on family networks. We know little about the hardships they faced, how exactly the majority survived, and what structures aided them and thus deserve strong government support, since there will likely be many more crises this century. One preliminary observation is that these labour mobility reversal repopulated the countryside and smallholder agriculture, which previously had been forced to rely on an ever more aged labour force, even in developing countries; and a sector that also has been neglected and despised by many governments still faithful to the narratives of green revolution.

Abstract Keywords
:
agriculture, resilience, reverse-migration