CLIMATE migration in Bangladesh could increase by up to seven-fold, displacing three million people from their homes by 2050 due to climate disasters, a new study found. The rate of migration in the country is more than double the average migration rate of any other South Asian country. The displacement and climate-related migration could rise to 900,000 by 2030.
The study, released last week, was conducted across five South Asian countries — Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. According to the study, a total of 63 million people will be forced to migrate if the global community fails to limit global warming within a rise of two degrees since the pre-industrial period, a goal which was set by the Paris Agreement.
The number of displaced people due to climate change in South Asia is almost as many as global migrants due to war and conflicts, the report said. The study calls for strong leadership and ambition from developed countries to cut emissions and support developing countries to adapt to climate change and recover from climate disasters.
Most of the migration will be caused due to events like sea level rise, lack of drinking water, drought-like situations and loss of biodiversity. Effects of extreme weather events like floods and cyclones were not included in this study.
While the national budget shows that there have been allocations of thousands of crores of taka as climate relevant investment, the effectiveness of that investment for the protection of vulnerable communities from climate related disasters remains questionable. That means that we have essentially no idea as to how the thousands of crores of takas were spent — never mind whether they were spent effectively.
So almost USD 3 billion –7.5 per cent of the current budget, is being spent on climate change investment for the fourth year to cover expenditure across twenty five different ministries. But we don’t know what we have been able to achieve — if anything at all. So firstly a comprehensive accounting must take place to indicate what we want to achieve, and secondly whether we have achieved it at all. There is a notorious tendency among our ministries to overspend on projects and thus achieve little, if anything at all. Unless this stops climate change investment remains an illusion.
