Migration is the more likely eventual option for millions of people around the world now struggling to remain in homes battered by climate change impacts, from sea level rise to droughts and storms. How many people might migrate as climate pressures grow is nearly impossible to estimate with any accuracy, not least because the scale and timing of climate shocks is hard to predict, and because whether people move depends on a huge range of factors, including how much help they get for recovery.
In 2021, about 23.7 million people were uprooted within their own countries, usually temporarily, as a result of disasters, many related to weather extremes, according to the Internal Displacement Migration Centre. Without serious and rapid action to deal with climate change, about 216 million people could be internal climate migrants by 2050, according to the World Bank.
Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change in the world. Here the curse of climate change hits in the forms of rising sea level, natural disasters, economic breakdown, prolonged monsoon, frequent changes in weather pattern and temperature and so on. Reportedly, salinity, rising sea levels and other adverse climate impacts could cause as many as 13.3 million people to leave their homes in the coastal areas of Bangladesh by 2050.
Human
settlements have been affected
in Bangladesh due to extreme
climate
events over past years
There is strong evidence that deteriorating environments caused by climate change are driving millions of people to resort to mass migration in their search for a better life, both within countries and across borders. Human settlements have been affected in Bangladesh due to extreme climate events over past years. One of the most adverse and prolonged impact of climate change in Bangladesh has been observed in the form of climate migration. It is apprehended that by 2050, one in every seven people in Bangladesh will be displaced by climate change. Hence, we should realise the need for formulating coherent and research-backed policy, legal and institutional framework to address climate migration. We need to devise immediate measurers to protect people from environmental risks and stop unwanted migration due to climate change.
It is time to increase the investment in policies and programmes to protect people from environmental risks induced by climate change. There is a need to prioritise the districts vulnerable to climate change and establish a district-level funding mechanism focusing on capacity building of women, young people and children.
Developing countries like Bangladesh need a global commitment to face climate challenges. As developed countries are accountable for the severe consequences of climate change, they must provide with necessary financial, technological and intellectual support to the developing countries following the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change. Moreover,
