Are rural–urban migration and sustainable development compatible in mountain systems?

Rural–urban migration is having a considerable socioeconomic and environmental effect in mountain regions. In response, most rural development programmes discourage outmigration on the grounds that it has negative social consequences and compromises ecological sustainability. However, rural–urban migration generally improves the living standards of migrants and leads to the disintensification of land use in fragile ecosystems with low productivity, thus stimulating ecosystem recovery and improving watershed and biodiversity protection—as shown by experience in the..