The government needs to address the challenges of climate-induced migration and forced displacement more prominently in its development agenda. Speakers in a seminar called upon the government to support people who have been migrated or forcibly displaced due to natural calamities by ensuring livelihood and job opportunities. Salinity intrusion due to sea-level rise and river bank erosion are two major causes of climate-induced migration and displacement in Bangladesh. People facing such situations have to be rehabilitated and offered employment opportunities. Their plight should prominently figure in the government’s climate action plan.
Over the last one decade, nearly 700,000 Bangladeshis were displaced each year on an average by natural disasters, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. That number spikes in years of catastrophic cyclones like 2009’s Aila, which displaced millions of people and killed more than 2000. But even in relatively calm years, there is a rising trend of displacement as sea-level rise, land erosion, salinity intrusion, crop failure, and repeated inundation make life along the coast difficult. Overall, the number of Bangladeshis displaced by the varied impacts of climate change could reach 13.3 million by 2050, making it the country’s number-one driver of internal migration.
The government needs to take mitigation and adaptation programmes to address the challenge of climate migration. We alone cannot win the race with the environment. As the people are destined to take the maximum heat of climate change, we should ring the bell and make the top carbon emitters responsible for our misery. The UN should act as the catalyst for ensuring climate justice, while the government should immediately stop all projects that pollute the environment and adopt green development alternatives. Besides strengthening coastal embankments, the government should develop eco-friendly urban and rural infrastructures and help people adapt to climate change. The private sector and the community should be actively involved in climate mitigation and adaptation strategies.
