Dr Matiur Rahman :
A recent report says, humans are facing various extreme events due to climate change and in future, hundreds of millions will be displaced from their land worldwide. Such displacement would create a new social group called “climate migrants”.
Climate migrants are internally or externally displaced by floods, cyclones, river erosion and rising sea levels that affect their lives and livelihoods. The main drivers of migration are environmental change and disasters. Often, climate migrants refer to climate refugees or environmental refugees for attention.
Bangladesh is exceptionally vulnerable to climate change. Its low elevation, high population density and inadequate infrastructure all put the nation in harm’s way, along with an economy that is heavily reliant on farming.
Because of the country’s natural susceptibility to extreme weather, the people of Bangladesh have always used migration as a coping strategy. However, as conditions intensify under climate change, more people are being driven from their homes and land by more frequent and severe hazards. Sea level rise, storms, cyclones, drought, erosion, landslides, flooding and salinization are already displacing a large number of people.
According to National Geographic by 2050, one in every seven people in Bangladesh will be displaced by climate change. Up to 18 million people may have to move because of sea-level rise alone.Two-thirds of Bangladesh is less than five metres above sea level. Around 28 percent of the population ofBangladesh lives on the coast, where the primary driver of displacement is tidal flooding caused by sea-level rise.
River flooding is also a cause of displacement inland, and along with erosion is likely to become more significant under climate change, as rainfall both increases and becomes more erratic, and the melting Himalayan glaciers alter river flows. As rainfall patterns change, the drier north-western regions of Bangladesh are at risk of drought, which drives people away through the destruction of crops and disruption of livelihoods. While not currently a major factor in displacement, this risk is expected to rise as climate change progresses.
Landslides, also induced by increasingly erratic rainfall, affect the hilly north-eastern and south-eastern regions of Bangladesh and can cause displacement by destroying homes and property, and disrupting agriculture.As with drought, landslides are not currently a primary cause of displacement, but they are predicted to become more severe and frequent as a result of climate change.
The women of Bangladesh are among the first to face the impacts of climate change, and their suffering is disproportionate. In the cyclone disaster of 1991, for example, 90% of the 140,000 people who died in the country were women. As for women in many other countries, Bangladeshi women have less access to land, resources and decision-making than men, and their wages are lower, making it harder to survive post-displacement.Women who migrate are often at risk of trafficking.
According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, natural disasters are another cause of displacement where an average of 700,000 people is displaced each year. Every year, about 1,000 to 2,000 low-income migrants from Bangladesh come to Dhaka. A study conducted in 2012 concluded that the changing environment is a major cause of migration. Life for immigrants is difficult. Generally, men drive rickshaws as their main source of income. On the other hand, women work as servants or in garment factories. Often, migrants discover homelessness due to the risk of regular fires and evictions in urban slums. Their dream ended in a minute.
At the same time, life in urban slums is more difficult due to scanty services like water, sanitation, shelter and livelihood opportunities. We need to work now to protect these climate migrants and save their lives and livelihoods. Effective solutions are needed to address this growing crisis. It is hoped that Bangladesh has adopted the National Adaptation Program of Action (2005) and Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (2009) to manage the climate crisis.
Some facts about climate migrants are that climate migrants are not legally considered refugees according to international refugee law. Climate migrants are people who leave their homes because of climate stressors. The vulnerable are most likely to feel pressure to migrate. No one knows how many climate migrants will exist. However, climate migration is a reality faced by people the world over.
Research shows that low-cost housing and job opportunities in immigrant-friendly cities will help those fleeing the effects of climate change. In addition, rights-based solutions are needed for affected migrants. Law should be formulated to recognize climate migrants. The government, civil society, the community and the international community must work together to address the current and future climate migration crisis in Bangladesh.
(The writer is a researcher and
development worker).
