Remittances economy, remittances landscape: an analysis of the economic and socioecological implications of remittances to households in South Eastern Nigeria

This study evaluated the level of household dependence on remittances, its uses and linkages with landscape/environmental conditions in South Eastern Nigeria. The study area is a landscape unit defined by the Idemili River Basin of Anambra State. The concept of socio-ecological systems provided the basis for an integrated assessment of remittances environment linkages using primary data from a survey of 840 households in 25 localities in the basin and landscape data from a Nigerias at 32 m resolution image dataset. Based on this, linear and non linear regression modelling of locality level relationships between four indicators of household remittances (HR) and a key landscape variable (vegetation cover density-VCD) was implemented. About 45 % of the households had access to remittances; 10 % of receiving households depended on it as their main income source; and over 87 % used the receipts mainly to meet basic household needs. Only 4 % of the households used it in activities that directly affected the vegetation cover. The linear and non linear relationships between the indicators of HR and VCD were generally weak (R2 < 0.250). However, the pattern of relationship was different for various indicators of HR. It was inverse for locality aggregate (total) and average HR and positive for level of household access to remittances/locality. This illustrates the complex relationship between remittances and landscape variables in the basin. The study shows that the impact of remittances on households and the environment in the region is both positive (through the alleviation of poverty and land pressure) and negative (through reduction of vegetation cover density). © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.