Bangladesh offers a model for climate migration | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Tuesday
September 26, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2023
Bangladesh offers a model for climate migration

Analysis

Hadriana Lowenkron, Bloomberg
18 June, 2021, 06:40 pm
Last modified: 18 June, 2021, 06:50 pm

Related News

  • 'Indian central bank didn't get any notice over US restrictions on ACU transactions'
  • Justice Obaidul Hassan sworn in as 24th chief justice of Bangladesh
  • US visa restrictions: State Dept spokesperson refrains from mentioning media
  • Nasrul urges International Solar Alliance to come up with with effective programme
  • Beijing supports Dhaka in safeguarding national sovereignty: Chinese envoy

Bangladesh offers a model for climate migration

New research points to ways migrant-friendly cities with low-cost housing and job opportunities are helping those fleeing the effects of climate change

Hadriana Lowenkron, Bloomberg
18 June, 2021, 06:40 pm
Last modified: 18 June, 2021, 06:50 pm
A street vendor carries a basket of onions while walking along the a rail track near the Kawran Bazar in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in December 2019. Photographer: Ismail Ferdous/Bloomberg
A street vendor carries a basket of onions while walking along the a rail track near the Kawran Bazar in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in December 2019. Photographer: Ismail Ferdous/Bloomberg

Bangladesh faces a worsening climate migration crisis as intensifying floods send waves of displaced residents from low lying coastal zones to Dhaka each year.

"We cannot absorb a potential 10 million climate refugees or climates that might occur over the next 10 to 20 years," Saleemul Huq, director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development, said recently in a recorded video.

To ease pressure on the already overcrowded capital, Huq and his colleagues argue for the creation of "migrant-friendly" towns outside of major cities — a strategy that can be implemented in other densely populated countries. Each of these satellite locations would need its "own development and adaptation plans to address climate risks and economic opportunities" in order to attract migrants, they wrote in a paper published Thursday in the journal Science. A second, equally important solution is selective relocation abroad, they said.

The findings come as countries in South Asia are seeing extreme temperatures as a product of global warming, which can lead to environmental displacement. If temperature increases fail to meet the Paris Agreement goal of between 1.5°C and 2°C, about 22.5 million people in the region could be displaced by slow-onset events by 2030, and about 34.4 million could be displaced by 2050, according to projections from a separate 2020 report on the Costs of Climate Inaction.

Migrant-friendly towns should be climate-resilient and have basic infrastructure in place, like low-cost housing and employment opportunities, the researchers wrote in Science. They should also foster cultural ethics and values of incoming migrants, who experts say prefer not to move far from where they were displaced.

The strategy is currently being implemented in at least five cities in Bangladesh, with programs that specifically target migrants who have crowded into slums, and there are more municipalities that could potentially absorb an influx of displaced residents. 

In the city of Rajshahi, for instance, the nonprofit BRAC helped establish programs to teach migrants new skills. Khulna is building flood-resistant systems in its slums and helping new residents access financial resources. And in Noapara, appealing for its fishing and shrimping industry, local officials are working on improving water supply and drainage systems. 

The programs in Bangladesh have led to an increase in economic activity and prompted many migrants to engage in small businesses, according to the International Centre for Climate Change and Development, which facilitated the efforts.

While the strategy provides a domestic solution to displacement, sudden extreme weather events could also force vulnerable residents to move outside the country in search of economic opportunities and safer environments. To offset limitations to in-country relocation, the authors also recommend that governments collaborate across borders — between developed and developing countries, and between climate-vulnerable and climate-ready nations — to relocate climate refugees. The inflow of migrants, they argue, has been found to positively impact the labor market, public revenue and GDP growth for host countries, as well as foster an increase in knowledge and skills in countries of origin.

The authors warn though that such a strategy can only take place if countries embrace global cooperation and actively fight xenophobia.

"Acceptance of this proposal by Western democracies depends on whether they are ready to embrace and enjoy more of 'smart/pooled' sovereignty, with enlightened self-interests under climate-induced vulnerability interdependence, rather than holding on to a centuries-old 'Westphalian' model of a zero-sum game in global cooperation," they wrote.


Hadriana Lowenkron is the Editor-in-Chief @dailypenn

Disclaimer: This article first appeared on Bloomberg, and is published by special syndication arrangement

Top News / Environment

Bangladesh / Climate migration

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • US dollar banknotes are seen in this illustration taken on 10 March 2023. Photo: Reuters
    'Indian central bank didn't get any notice over US restrictions on ACU transactions'
  • US visa restriction won't affect RMG shipment: BGMEA president
    US visa restriction won't affect RMG shipment: BGMEA president
  • EC allows journos to use motorcycles during elections taking prior permission
    EC allows journos to use motorcycles during elections taking prior permission

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: Courtesy
    BPL 2024: Updated squads of all 7 teams
  • DMP Commissioner Khandaker Golam Faruq. Photo: Collected
    DMP Commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq sent on retirement
  • Dollar rates raised to Tk110 for remitters, exporters
    Dollar rates raised to Tk110 for remitters, exporters
  • Will US visa restrictions have any impact on business?
    Will US visa restrictions have any impact on business?
  • The Fitch Ratings logo is seen at their offices at Canary Wharf financial district in London,Britain, March 3, 2016. REUTERS/Reinhard Krause
    Fitch now rates Bangladesh's foreign debt outlook negative
  • Photo: Collected
    Railway launches intercity goods van service

Related News

  • 'Indian central bank didn't get any notice over US restrictions on ACU transactions'
  • Justice Obaidul Hassan sworn in as 24th chief justice of Bangladesh
  • US visa restrictions: State Dept spokesperson refrains from mentioning media
  • Nasrul urges International Solar Alliance to come up with with effective programme
  • Beijing supports Dhaka in safeguarding national sovereignty: Chinese envoy

Features

India-Canada clash should be a wakeup call

India-Canada clash should be a wakeup call

6h | Panorama
It is highly unlikely that inflation rate is going to come down soon. PHOTO: TBS

No more central bank loans to the govt: Will it be enough to curb inflation?

6h | Panorama
Why Bangladeshi patients flock to India

Why Bangladeshi patients flock to India

7h | Panorama
Nooruddin Complex: Of childhood, dreams and a sense of community

Nooruddin Complex: Of childhood, dreams and a sense of community

7h | Habitat

More Videos from TBS

KR Ship Recycling Yard of Chittagong

KR Ship Recycling Yard of Chittagong

51m | TBS Stories
Why people are so crazy for iPhone  around the world?

Why people are so crazy for iPhone around the world?

4h | Tech Talk
Some effective ways to relax the brain

Some effective ways to relax the brain

4h | TBS Stories
Comilla Victorians is the strongest team on paper

Comilla Victorians is the strongest team on paper

18h | TBS SPORTS
EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]