Climate refugees in Bangladesh

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Geographically Bangladesh is a climate vulnerable and disaster-prone country in the world and also it is set to gotten to be indeed more so as a result of climate change. Writes Md. Tajul Islam

Geographically Bangladesh is a climate vulnerable and disaster-prone country in the world and also it is set to gotten to be indeed more so as a result of climate change. It has large population on the contrary 147,570 square kilometers. Due to its special geographic position Bangladesh endures from regular natural dangers that vindicate to misfortune of life, arrive, homes, livelihoods and to the constrained uprooting of people and communities over the country. Isn’t it urgent for climate refugees to have arranged housing and safe living?

There are different definitions of refugee. Refugees are those who are forced to leave their homes and go elsewhere. He is a refugee even if he leaves the country and goes to another country or from one region to another within the country. The Rohingyas who have come from Myanmar are refugees; but they are not climate refugees. They are refugees because of racial oppression but nature also evacuates people at the moment, climate refugees are one of the most talked about problems in the world.

There is a slum at Mohammadpur area in Dhaka called Bholapara. Hundreds of climate refugee families from Bhola district are sheltered in this Bholapara. Those who are victims of river erosion in different areas of the southern district of Bhola are the ones who come here and take shelter According to the name of the district; the name of the slum is Bholapara 8 Which is proof of the climate refugees in Bangladesh. Climate refugees are increasing in Bangladesh due to climate change. Refugees are migrating not only from one district to another within the country, but also abroad. Some are returning from the Middle East after being deceived.

Recently, several research institutes of the world have mentioned about the excessive emission of methane gas in the sky of Dhaka. Methane gas is being generated not from any natural cause or not from any natural sources, but from man-made waste, which is floating uncontrollably in the sky of Dhaka. In our general opinion, we consider carbon dioxide to be a dangerous gas which is very helpful in rising the temperature; notwithstanding methane gas is 21 percent more pestilent than carbon dioxide.

According to climate change experts, greenhouse gases are helpful for climate change and methane is the major gas of greenhouse gas. Last two decades, methane gas has damaged the atmosphere 84 percent more than carbon dioxide. Odorless colorless methane gas helps retain the sun’s heat, which contributes to climate change by rapidly increasing global temperatures.

The American Government Accountability Office has provided a report, which report found; the State Department of incumbents and other foreign aid agencies have not done enough to grapple with climate change-induced migration in developing countries. This report has highlighted Bangladesh as particularly vulnerable. Also, climate change will make up to 200 million migration people worldwide by 2050, and Dhaka will be a cautionary tale for refuge cities in the world.

The British daily The Guardian has claimed in a report that 2,000 new people are entering Dhaka every day. Its speed is increasing as a result of climate change. And the number of climate refugees in Dhaka is also increasing.

The report further claims that in the coming decades, not only Bangladesh but the entire world will be witnessing the migration of cores of refugees from coastal areas to urban areas. As a result, by 2060, the number of climate refugees in the world will be around 100 cores.

According to the World Bank, every year 4 lakh new people enter the capital city in Dhaka. And according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 70 percent of Dhaka’s slum dwellers have been displaced due to some form of climate change. It is expected that the temperature in Bangladesh will increase by 2 degrees Celsius in the next 30 years. And by 2060, the sea level will rise two more feet.

It cannot be said that the government is completely inattentive to the climate refugees. In last year, the government inaugurated a large climate rehabilitation center for climate refugee families at Khurushkul Union, in Cox’s Bazar. It can be called the largest climate rehabilitation center in the world. So, 4,409 families will be rehabilitated in 139 five-storey buildings under construction on 253.59 acres of land. The cost of which has been estimated at Tk 1,600.39 crore. Such projects are rare in the world.

President Joe Biden-led online climate summit was recently held. The great crisis will be overcome only if all the statesmen of the world give up indifference and play an active role in climate change. Otherwise, the earth will soon become uninhabitable.

Md. Tajul Islam is a student at Comilla University, article writer and member of Social Research Group (SRG), Bangladesh.

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