Climate Change Impact on Migration Situation in Coastal Delta Belt of Bangladesh: A Qualitative Explorative Study

Abstract

Climate change is one kind of erratic behaviour and hazards of environmental consequences such as floods, flash floods, drought, heat & cold waves, cyclones, high and low tides, river bank erosion, salinity intrusion, etc. The household survey and qualitative study approaches were performed to explore the changes in vulnerable peoples’ ecological migration perspective in disaster-affected southern part of Bangladesh. People usually move to the nearest town and peri-urban areas to seek jobs due to concurrent cyclones, storm surges, and floods in the coastal areas. Again, heavy rainfall and flash-flood conditions usually create intra-district temporary migration to maintain their daily livelihood smoothly. In the char lands, this migration takes place due to riverbank erosion where family members were forced to relocate to a new residence. It occurs when the income-generating activities of people are disrupted by ecological events. Families leave their homes during the disaster period and return, once the conditions are back to normal. Movement for rural people needs constant land management systems including governance, ownership rights and access and technical support for financing land use and making productive use of land to cope with frequent natural calamities. The government of Bangladesh therefore must consider these challenges and gradually improve its capacity to prepare its technology to renovate the vulnerable local people into a climate resilient one.