Climate migration and change of urban land uses in Bangladesh

Abstract

Urban land dynamics has always been influenced by rural-urban migration. Such internal migration processes have been induced by economic pull, social push or environmental degradation. For the last few decades a variety of climatic hazards have introduced a new form of migration called climate migration or displacement. Displaced communities have been forced to migrate and it has a direct impact the livelihood of those migrants and the land-use dynamics of destination. The low-lying delta region of Bangladesh is highly prone to natural disasters and such climatic actions change the population dynamics and its distribution. In the last few decades frequent floods, cyclones, drought and river erosion have exerted dramatic impacts on coastal settlements and livelihood. In 1991, 137,000 people were killed when cyclone and storm surge swept over the coastal zones. Most recently cyclone SIDR hit the south coastal region leaving 4234 people dead and destroyed 564,000 homes that resulted in 885,280 people homeless. Every year low-lying coastal areas are affected by, on average, six tropical cyclones accompanied by 5 to 6m high tidal surge killing thousands of people and causing extensive damage to houses and infrastructures and millions become homeless and displaced from their land. Those displaced communities are forced to migrate to other places and in most cases to the nearest urban areas for alternative livelihood. They often settle at the urban fringe, on vacant lands beside rail lines and highways and squat around the city, thus changing the land dynamics of the city. This paper elaborates on how climate migration or displacements influence urban land-use change in Bangladesh.