Search

The paper conceptualises the process of voluntary relocation undertaken by rural farmers to informal settlements in coastal cities. These are journeys that occur without formal institutional support, utilising migrants' own agency. Learning from these community‐driven relocations has merit in rethinking climate change adaptation at the regional level. In this paper we present stories of 17 families who have progressively relocated to the fringes of Khulna city in southwestern Bangladesh. We observe three key attributes: first, relocations are slow, neither singular nor immediately completed, but rather take months of careful back and forth journeys of family members between their places of origin and destination. Second, relocations rely on small networks of relatives and acquaintances at the destination. Third, relocations are built on shared responsibilities distributed among a range of actors in places of origin and destination. We conclude that these slow, small and shared relocations are likely to be realised as forms of ongoing adaptation by rural farmers if their aspirational mobilities, social relations and supports are maintained at a regional scale. This kind of migration as adaptation may bring about just outcomes for those displaced without necessarily promoting rigid planning interventions that tend to fix resettlement solutions in place and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is a leading threat to sustainable socio‐economic development in Bangladesh. Adverse impacts of climatic disasters including flash floods, recurrent cyclones and erratic rainfall patterns are already causing hardship for both rural and urban people and are expected to accelerate into the future. The aim of this research note is to identify the core contributing economic sectors to climate change in Bangladesh, and to consider effective mitigation strategies. Following the 5th Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report (2014), in this paper, we argue that comprehensive mitigation measures are required in the energy, transport, buildings, industry and land‐use sectors to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Our findings indicate that it is crucial that government and non‐government mitigation efforts engage with community knowledge practices in order to most effectively reduce GHG emissions and combat the adverse impacts of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bangladesh experiences some of the most severe impacts of climate change, with impacts already evident in the coastal regions. Recent data shows that around 32% of the coastal communities in Bangladesh are affected by climate‐induced hazards each year. In 2011, 64% among them were displaced locally and 27% were displaced to other locations in Bangladesh. It requires comprehensive and viable polices and planning to meet the challenges of managing a large number of displaced people. In this context, this paper reviews and investigates the effectiveness of current governance frameworks to address migration of affected communities. It argues that migration can be an effective way to cope with environmental shocks. Finally, it discusses policy imperatives for effective protection of people displaced by climate risks with a special reference to adopting a human rights‐based approach in law and policy making for climate‐induced migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]