Year: 2010
Type: other
Abstract: The nexus of environment, climate change and migration is becoming an increasingly important policy issue for Bangladesh, as in the wider South Asian region and globally.The intention of 'Assessing the Evidence: Environment, Climate Change and Migration' is to provide an informed starting point for discussions on this issue amongst all key stakeholders -including government, civil society, research institutions and development partners -in shaping the country's policy agenda on environmental migration going forward.The document brings together evidence on environment, climate change and migration in Bangladesh from a survey of existing literature and interviews with key experts -presented in Section One -with the findings of an IOM policy dialogue on this topic held on 23 May 2010 and presented in Section Two.The impact and aftermath of Cyclone Aila are reminders of the kind of challenges Bangladesh is likely to face increasingly in the future.The cyclone struck on 25th May 2009, affected 3.9 million people and breached 1,742 kilometres of embankments.One year on, large areas remain flooded and around 100,000 people are still living on embankments, roads and any other available elevations of land.As 'Assessing the Evidence' demonstrates, cyclones are just one of the many environmental threats to which the country is already exposed.These include not only sudden-onset or extreme events (such as cyclones and floods) but also slow-onset processes of environmental change and degradation (such as changing rainfall patterns and saline intrusion).All of these events and processes have complex but tangible effects on patterns of migration and, over the long-term, climate change will exacerbate the existing situation, further impacting on migration from environmentally vulnerable regions.Far from being passive in the face of these challenges, Bangladesh is in a position to respond proactively to minimize the risks and maximize the benefits of environmentally induced migration.As IOM's recent experience in Aila affected areas has shown, while disaster risk reduction and post-disaster response have improved significantly over recent decades, there is still considerable room for improvement.Most importantly there is scope for actions that not only minimize displacement and protect the displaced, but also policies and programmes that support voluntary migration from environmentally vulnerable or degraded regions as a positive livelihood and adaptation strategy.Bangladesh already has considerable experience in promoting international migration -including a range of IOM supported programmes -that suggests that there is good potential to develop innovative long term measures that benefit both internal and international migrants.IOM's policy dialogue on environment, climate change and migration in Bangladesh and this publication -Assessing the Evidence -comes at a time when there is active policy discourse taking place in the field of migration, environment and climate change in Bangladesh, and IOM is pleased to be able to make an early contribution to the ongoing discussions.Assessing the Evidence Environment, Climate Change and Migration in Bangladesh
Author: Matthew Walsham
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3208689765