Tides of Change: Understanding ClimateInduced Migration in Bangladesh’s Coastal Regions
Mizanur Rahman ¹*, Zereen Saba ² , Asma Akther Popy ³, Khaled Md. Mehzabin Alam Prottoy ⁴, Masrur Abdul Quader ⁵
¹ Research Officer, Center for People & Environ (CPE)
² Junior Specialist, Meteorology, BRAC
³ Research Associate-GIS Specialist, Center for People & Environ (CPE)
⁴ Research Assistant, Center for People & Environ (CPE)
⁵ Research Fellow, Policy Research and Advocacy, Programme Policy campaign, ActionAid Bangladesh
*Corresponding Author: mizanur.rakib97@gmail.com
Abstract
Bangladesh faces several climatic hazards/disasters due to its geographical location. The country suffers from natural disasters regularly, resulting in the loss of human life and livelihoods and the forced migration of people or whole communities to nearby areas. Research was conducted in the three coastal districts: Barguna, Patuakhali, and Cox’s Bazar with the following goals: 1. To identify the causes of coastal climate-induced displacement; and 2. To identify the socioeconomic elements that contribute to forced migration. 3. Determine probable areas of Bangladeshi coastal relocation due to climate change. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods is used for the study. Primary data was collected from the Household Questionnaire Survey, Focus Group Discussion (FGD), and Key Informant Interview (KII) with relevant people and institutions. In addition, secondary data and relevant policies, documents, and books were reviewed from different sources. The study findings reveal that frequent cyclones, flooding, erosion, loss of land, and crop production are the primary causes of climate displacement in coastal areas. Internal migration and external migration are both common situations found in the three coastal districts. Increasing temperatures, drought, and losing crops in the Varendra regions are the leading causes of internal migration. The paper reveals that the coastal region of Patuakhali has the highest displacement threat, where ~39.6% of the people said that they would be interested in migrating immediately.
Introduction
People who live along Bangladesh’s coasts are forced to migrate due to climate-related disasters and fragile livelihoods. Climate migrants are increasing in the coastal districts. Moreover, internal migration rose from 4.80% during 1991-2000 to 11.30% during 2000-2010 (Brennan, 2020). Results from a study conducted in Patuakhali show that seasonal migration increases by 33.90% (Rahaman, et al. 2022). Due to climate-induced disasters, about 15 million individuals in Bangladesh could be migrants by 2050, causing the greatest forced migration in the history of human life (Rashid, 2020). Impact of Climate change on several aspects including health, education, child protection, nutrition, and water and hygiene, all of which are affected by migration or residing in urban slums (UNDRR, 2016). Families are being displaced and pushed further into poverty because of longer-term climate change issues including sea level rise and saltwater intrusion. As a result, children’s access to resources for healthcare and education is severely limited. (UNICEF, 2019). From 2014 to 2020, caused by the fifteen specified disasters including floods, cyclones and storm surges, salinity, riverbank erosion, etc. displaced 9.4 million people, and damaged 4.6 million houses either fully or partially (NIRAPAD, 2021). In terms of migration frequency, permanent migration is lower than the temporary and seasonal migration rate, and most migrants choose urban areas as their prioritized destination. Extremely poor, and poor migrated people from these locations due to economic scarcity and insecurity (Rashid, 2020).