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Climate change-induced migration


Published : 19 Mar 2022 07:06 PM | Updated : 19 Mar 2022 07:07 PM

Migration as a response to changing conditions is not new; in fact, it is a part of the story of how humans have inhabited our planet for thousands of years.

Migration is recognized as a climate change adaptation method by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Nonetheless, it is increasingly likely that communities, individuals, and ecosystems will be overwhelmed by and unprepared for the magnitude of movement and resultant change generated by rapidly progressing climate change.

Few pieces of research in Bangladesh have brought together existing evidence on climate change, environment, and migration nexus. The evidence in the document comes from a variety of sources and studies, including statistics and policy documents from the Bangladesh government, academic research, working papers and other publications, and research conducted by national, bilateral and multilateral organizations, NGOs, and research institutions.

In addition, consultations with a number of prominent specialists in Bangladesh were held, and the research drew heavily on the IOM's increasing corpus of work on this topic around the world.

Some study provides an overview of the international discourse on the environment, climate change and migration, outlining current thinking within this complex and increasingly visible policy debate.

Turning to Bangladesh, it provides a brief outline of the country and developmental achievements and challenges, moving on to an in-depth exploration of the role of the environment and climate change in shaping the country’s long-term development and migration dynamics.

Shirin is a 45-year-old woman from a village near the Bay of Bengal in the Khulna district coastal region in Bangladesh. Back in 2007, cyclone Sidr destroyed her home. The area was flooded -- and the water would not drain. Shirin's husband, who was a day labourer, lost his job because the construction and development work was stopped for the cyclone. Her family moved to the city in search of work.

Due to the higher costs of living, they could not afford to all stay in the city, so Shirin moved back to the village. There she found that what once had been green meadows were now saltwater swamps. Agriculture was impossible; due to a lack of alternatives, people were breeding shrimp in the stagnant saltwater.

Shirin's story is one of many that can be found in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is vulnerable to climate calamities due to its location and geography. The country was even named one of the "Top Sufferers" of extreme weather occurrences in the 2019 Climate Risk Index. Residents of coastal areas are twice as vulnerable, as they are subject to both immediate and delayed calamities, such as increased water salinity and water-logging.

Cyclones are the most common type of disaster with a sudden or rapid beginning. This results in extended water-logging, which saturates the soil and reduces the land's agricultural value.

As a result, the plants "suffocate," as not enough oxygen reaches the roots. Waterlogged soils generate increasing amounts of nitrous oxide, a particularly destructive greenhouse gas, in addition to making fields useless for most types of crops.

Due to tidal surges and tropical storms, 47% of the villages have also suffered severe erosion. A lot of erosion occurs along the riverbanks of the Jamuna river, one of the longest rivers in the world. Seventy percent of the inhabitants of the researched areas have suffered from partial or complete damage of their houses between 2000 and 2019.

Some action research found that the coping strategy of the Bangladeshi people affected by climate disasters is to "absorb, adapt and transform." Affected people often initially take out loans to rebuild their homes or their businesses rather than leaving for the next village or town. Unfortunately, life is not the same after a disaster due to destroyed infrastructure.

When their previous livelihood is no longer possible or in demand, many try their luck in other professions, but the study concludes that 11% of those who have looked for a new profession fail in finding new work.

In general, 32% of households have at least one person who is unemployed and 82% of households have at least one family member who migrated for a better livelihood between 2000 and 2017.

Another study also comes to the worrying conclusion that 65% of the respondents migrated for the first time after 2000, when severe sudden-onset disasters started to accumulate. This means that the "absorb, adapt and transform" coping mechanism cannot work when individuals pass the tipping point where livelihoods are compromised beyond reasonable hope of recovery.

"Climate Change is a direct and indirect aggravating vector and a threat multiplier," add experts. "It is a vicious circle, which also leads to maladaptation, such as the unsustainable use of fertilizer or intensive shrimp farming.

We need to be looking for options in the place of origins and come up with combined interventions that foster the capacity to make informed decisions about migration rather than ad hoc decision making and must take the circumstances of climate change-affected populations into account."

The migration of people from coastal regions of Bangladesh is mostly domestic-only 4% seek their fortune outside the country's borders. Experts say migrants are often not moving to better areas, but to ones equally disaster-prone. That's why it's extremely important that the local government of the receiving areas must be enabled, not only where the people leave.

More evidence is required to persuade governments to adopt appropriate policies. Another expert explains that this is problematic because most existing research is either anecdotal or limited to a single topic, making it impossible to generalize. As a result, legislators now have insufficient evidence to act on climate change or improve climate-related migration preparation. As a result, empirical evidence, as well as action research, are required.

We need to learn more about the tipping moments where climate-related stress causes people to migrate. This will aid in improving community preparation by assisting communities in absorbing stress or assisting them in making more informed migration decisions that benefit their social and economic development.

- Shaikh Shahrukh Farhan is a young policy thinker