The increase in rural-urban linkages may be attributed to a worldwide tendency toward livelihood diversification …show more content…
One fundamental characteristic of rural livelihood strategies is diversification of activities and assets (Bebbington 1999; Ellis 2000). Activities can be divided into on-farm or natural resource-based (e.g., forest extractivism and agriculture) and non-farm or non-natural resource-based (e.g., wages, pensions). Assets are composed of different types of capitals: natural, human, financial, social and physical (Scoones 1998; Bebbington 1999; Ellis …show more content…
The increase of rural-urban circulation and multi-locality have been related to different transformations in livelihood strategies of diversification: de-agrarianization as income become more based on non-natural resources sources, new urban markets for natural resources (f.e. açaí berry and fish) and intensification of peri-urban and urban agriculture (Eloy et al. 2015; Lima 2005; Brondizio 2008; Padoch et al. 2008).
A key question that is not well understood concerns the economic factors which predispose rural households in the Amazon to pursue a circulation spatial strategy. In remote areas in the Brazilian Amazon, qualitative research suggests that multi-local and rural-urban circulation strategies are related to market-oriented activities and access to government payments. Lima (2005) suggested that in rural communities in floodplain areas, retirement pensions were financing circulation of multi-local households between rural and urban areas. Although Brondizio (2011) stressed the large number of rural families receiving cash transfer payments via governmental programs, there is very little work evaluating its impact in Amazon rural community livelihoods (Piperata 2011a, 2011b) and