Abstract

There has been increasing research interest in rural migration in recent times Rural migration is the movement of people from one geographical location to another The rural areas are the banks of the world s natural resources such as land and forests which house timber forest and non-timber resources This study was carried out to ascertain the effect of rural-urban migration on household livelihoods and rural environment in Delta State Nigeria It assesses a conceptual framework involving rural household livelihoods as an integrative mediating factor between rural-urban labour migration and the rural environment of Delta State Nigeria Data were collected through household surveys and key informant interviews from six villages The results reject the null hypothesis that labour-migrant and non-labour-migrant households do not differ significantly in livelihood activities including agricultural production agricultural technology use income and consumption and resource use and management Implications for future environmental outcomes of rural labour emigration and the related natural resource management and policy in rural push areas are discussed