Environmental Refugees in Bangladesh: The Link between Environmental Degradation and Human Trafficking
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 6:24PM Posted By Sarah Lumbert, Break the Chain Campaign Intern
In recent years, much attention has been placed on natural disasters and environmental changes triggered by climate change. Bangladesh is a stark example of the effect these changes have on vulnerable populations. Flooded or eroded croplands and salinized soil from the coastal areas to Dhaka illustrate the disruptive effect that environmental degradation has on the poor. Displaced villagers, once self sufficient in the countrysides and fishing villages, stagger to Dhaka to find a new way of life and to provide a meager existance for their families. Out of desperation, many of these people accept offers of work in faraway places. From there, they may end up in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, or still farther. Too often, these refugees are coerced or deceived into debt bondage or prostitution.
Natural disasters such as an earthquakes and tsunamis are not the only environmental factors that can tranform large populations into environmental refugees. In Bangladesh, floods, river erosion, deforestation, and storms are ever-increasing dangers that are intensified by climate change.Over 12 million people live in Dhaka, and over 400,000 newcomers enter the city each year, most of whom are environmental refugees that have lost everything. The Nobel Prize-winning IPCC predicts 20 million Bangladeshis will be displaced by 2050 because of sea level rises and an increase of natural disasters caused by changing weather patterns.
Bangladesh is situated on the largest river delta in the world. Near the capital, Dhaka, three iconic rivers converge: the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, and the Meghna. 80% of the land consists of floodplains. Each year, thousands of acres are eroded from floodplain areas, creating a dual problem: a dramatic increase in displaced populations and an alarming decrease in the arable land. These factors leave many families homeless and force them to head for the capital to join the ranks of urban squatters and shanty town dwellers. As many as half the people in Dhaka (6 million) live in these types of deplorable conditions, claims Atiq Rahman, a climate change researcher and Executive Director at the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies. He goes on to state that approximately three million of those individuals have been displaced and ended up in Dhaka because of environmental degradation and disasters.
Once refugees arrive in the slums of Dhaka, security is a serious concern. Parents live in fear that child traffickers will kidnap their children while they are away at work. Once these refugees experience upheaval from their traditional way of life, the structure of the family is also disrupted. Mothers and fathers are forced by desperation to provide for their families in any way they can. These situations are breeding ground for criminals to take advantage of a vulnerable, often illiterate population that is unprepared for their new life in a mega-city urban setting.
Many of the environmental problems that have caused Bangladesh’s forced migrations can be attributed to climate change linked to carbon emissions. The US, China, Russia, and India have all received criticism from Bangladeshi leaders for their role in perpetuating climate change. These changes affect every level of Bangladeshi life. There are few governments in the world less capable of providing resources and aid for such vast populations of displaced people. Should China, Russia, and India be required to provide humanitarian aid to the Bangladeshis? Should the US Department of State allocate special attention and TIP funding to environmental refugees in Bangladesh? In terms of policy, how should the link between environmental refugees and human trafficking efforts be approached? Moving into the future, there are more questions than answers but it is clear that cases such as Bangladesh should not be ignored on a policy level or an academic level.
Reader Comments (9)
I cannot believe that human trafficking is still alive these days. I don't think I would be able to live with myself if I would lose my kid.
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It was a nice read, I honestly had never heard of environmental refugees until today. For sure I understand that due to some environmental factors like tsunami etc people tend to evacuate and move to neighboring or nearby villages. But It astounds me to know that refugees not only in the thousands but in hundreds of thousands or millions are affected by climate change and being displaced farther than where they used to live.
A CRIME COMMITTING SYNDICATE led by self-proclaimed Matabars Sheeru, Shalluddin, & Momin also Monir Uddin Ahmed an influential member of the syndicate backed by his brother-in-law Lt. Col. Rashidul Alom RAB-1 Co is an insulator of crime and an ally of injustice for them all not for free though, involving in land grabbing, lake filling, harboring creating criminals, selling drugs, bribery blackmailing, prostitution, vandalizing, extortion, loan-sharking, encouraging building code violation, oppressing, attacking and ruining a renowned family…. been inhumanly persecuting us for 7 dissipated long years, satanically violating our human rights indiscriminately by keeping us from earning a living, stopping our source of income, garbling our land records, keeping us under watch round the clock, bringing mobs on hire to scare abuse us ruining our social status calling us insane to take away our credibility, not allowing and allowed other to mix with us, throwing full-sized bricks onto our tin rooftop like hailstorm, stopping our water supply, poisoning 6 of our pet dogs in a row, distorting the post mortem reports, bugging our phones, and many more…. to various departments we went to for assistance to no succor obviously Lt. Col. Rashid hampered its operation deactivating. Even phoning up to have the transgressors released from police/rab custody. Such a fatal phase we were tortured to undergo that dmp police commissioner commanded police protection for us round the clock for over 6months.
Self-proclaimed Matabars: Sheeru, Shalluddin & Momin are infamously known as “Khal Chottas”, specializing in Lake/Land/Home Grabbing, combining with Cheat & Forgery based ingenious documentation…ref: a Banner headline made by The Daily Ittefaq dated 12&13 March 2010 “Khal Dakhal Kore Dalan Kotha… Rajdhanir Ulune ek kilometer khaler naam nishana muche geche khamatadhor shatadhik bahutol bhaban maliker beparwa thabai…sthaniyora obhijog karen ulon khaler shotkora trish bhagh jomi jabar dakhal kore niyeche matbar paribar….”
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While the Earth has always endured natural climate change variability, we are now facing the possibility of irreversible climate change in the near future. The increase of greenhouse gases in the Earth?s atmosphere from industrial processes has enhanced the natural greenhouse effect. This in turn has accentuated the greenhouse ?trap? effect, causing greenhouse gases to form a blanket around the Earth, inhibiting the sun?s heat from leaving the outer atmosphere. This increase of greenhouse gases is causing an additional warming of the Earth?s surface and atmosphere. A direct consequence of this is sea-level rise expansion, which is primarily due to the thermal expansion of oceans (water expands when heated), inducing the melting of ice sheets as global surface temperature increases.
Forecasts for climate change by the 2,000 scientists on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) project a rise in the global average surface temperature by 1.4 to 5.8°C from 1990 to 2100. This will result in a global mean sea level rise by an average of 5 mm per year over the next 100 years. Consequently, human-induced climate change will have ?deleterious effects? on ecosystems, socio-economic systems and human welfare.At the moment, especially high risks associated with the rise of the oceans are having a particular impact on the two archipelagic states of Western Polynesia: Tuvalu and Kiribati. According to UN forecasts, they may be completely inundated by the rising waters of the Pacific by 2050.According to the vast majority of scientific investigations, warming waters and the melting of polar and high-elevation ice worldwide will steadily raise sea levels. This will likely drive people off islands first by spoiling the fresh groundwater, which will kill most land plants and leave no potable water for humans and their livestock. Low-lying island states like Kiribati, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands and the Maldives are the most prominent nations threatened in this way.“The biggest challenge is to preserve their nationality without a territory,” said Bogumil Terminski from Geneva. The best solution is continue to recognize deterritorialized states as a normal states in public international law. The case of Kiribati and other small island states is a particularly clear call to action for more secure countries to respond to the situations facing these ‘most vulnerable nations’, as climate change increasingly impacts upon their lives.
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