River bank erosion renders 1.0m people rootless a year
Saturday, 26 December 2009
FE Report
River bank erosion affects nearly one million people in Bangladesh a year, spawning a wave of climate migrants who flock to cities in search of livelihood, the regional head of the IOM has said.
"The situation is heading towards a silent crisis," says Rabab Fatima, regional representative of the Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
"Events like floods and droughts in many parts of the country often force people to move and find new jobs, which also contributed to the rapid growth of urban populations," she adds.
The IOM official said in the north of the country millions of people are also threatened by river bank erosion (RBE), severe droughts and heavy flooding.
The UN's climate panel claims that a one-metre rise in sea level will engulf some 13 per cent of land mass in the southern belt and render some 20-25 million refugees by 2050.
The World Bank has also estimated that half of all Bangladeshis will move to cities by then in a major shift toward urbanisation.
"These findings suggest a possible correlation between climate change and the rapid growth of urbanisation in Bangladesh," the IOM official wrote in an international publication.
Bangladesh's urban population is growing 4.8 per cent a year and is set to reach 68 million by 2015, Ms. Fatima, the Bangladeshi-born IOM official, said.
She said a comprehensive account of such urban migration trends requires more analysis to investigate the reasons why the people move.
"The most cost effective solution may be to intervene in the first instance in the migration source areas," the IOM official said.
Ms. Fatima has warned that the slum population and the urban poor are likely to increase "at an alarming rate" if concerted actions are not taken to tackle the issue.
The IOM executive said in Bangladesh, migration is often perceived as a failure of adaptation, and as such is not seen as a major threat to stability.
But she added managing migration as an adaptation measure can reduce overall vulnerability, particularly in coastal and erosion-prone communities.
Bangladesh is widely recognised as one of the countries most vulnerable to cyclonic storms and constant flooding and Ms. Fatima said the country has experienced more than 70 major natural disasters since 2000.
One-fifth of the country is flooded every year, and in some years, up to two-thirds of the land mass has been inundated.
She said her organisation is engaged in generating awareness of the issue to advance the existing knowledge-base on climate-induced migrants.
"We believe that immediate action is called for to address this emerging problem," she concluded in her paper on climate change and displacement.
River bank erosion affects nearly one million people in Bangladesh a year, spawning a wave of climate migrants who flock to cities in search of livelihood, the regional head of the IOM has said.
"The situation is heading towards a silent crisis," says Rabab Fatima, regional representative of the Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
"Events like floods and droughts in many parts of the country often force people to move and find new jobs, which also contributed to the rapid growth of urban populations," she adds.
The IOM official said in the north of the country millions of people are also threatened by river bank erosion (RBE), severe droughts and heavy flooding.
The UN's climate panel claims that a one-metre rise in sea level will engulf some 13 per cent of land mass in the southern belt and render some 20-25 million refugees by 2050.
The World Bank has also estimated that half of all Bangladeshis will move to cities by then in a major shift toward urbanisation.
"These findings suggest a possible correlation between climate change and the rapid growth of urbanisation in Bangladesh," the IOM official wrote in an international publication.
Bangladesh's urban population is growing 4.8 per cent a year and is set to reach 68 million by 2015, Ms. Fatima, the Bangladeshi-born IOM official, said.
She said a comprehensive account of such urban migration trends requires more analysis to investigate the reasons why the people move.
"The most cost effective solution may be to intervene in the first instance in the migration source areas," the IOM official said.
Ms. Fatima has warned that the slum population and the urban poor are likely to increase "at an alarming rate" if concerted actions are not taken to tackle the issue.
The IOM executive said in Bangladesh, migration is often perceived as a failure of adaptation, and as such is not seen as a major threat to stability.
But she added managing migration as an adaptation measure can reduce overall vulnerability, particularly in coastal and erosion-prone communities.
Bangladesh is widely recognised as one of the countries most vulnerable to cyclonic storms and constant flooding and Ms. Fatima said the country has experienced more than 70 major natural disasters since 2000.
One-fifth of the country is flooded every year, and in some years, up to two-thirds of the land mass has been inundated.
She said her organisation is engaged in generating awareness of the issue to advance the existing knowledge-base on climate-induced migrants.
"We believe that immediate action is called for to address this emerging problem," she concluded in her paper on climate change and displacement.