Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Migrating to tackle climate variability and change? Insights from coastal fishing communities in Bangladesh

  • Published:
Climatic Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

There is an on-going debate about climate-induced migration but little empirical evidence. We examine how climate-induced migration has impacted vulnerability and adaptation of a coastal fishing community in Bangladesh. We used household surveys, interviews and focus group discussions to compare fishery dependent households who migrated from Kutubdia Island to mainland with those who stayed behind. Our results suggest that the resettled households are less exposed to floods, sea-level-rise and land erosion than those who stayed behind. They also have more livelihood assets, higher incomes and better access to water supply, health and educational services, technology and markets. In our case study migration has thus been a viable strategy to respond to climate variability and change.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aid A (2007) Unjust waters: climate change, flooding and the protection of poor urban communities–experiences from six African cities. Action Aid International, Johannesburg

    Google Scholar 

  • Allison EH, Ellis F (2001) The livelihoods approach and management of small-scale fisheries. Mar Policy 25:377–388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allison EH, Perry AL, Badjeck M-C, Adger WN, Brown K, Conway D, Halls AS, Pilling GM, Reynolds JD, Andrew NL, Dulvy NK (2009) Vulnerability of national economies to the impacts of climate change on fisheries. Fish Fish 10(2):173–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banglapedia (2006) Banglapedia–national encyclopedia of Bangladesh. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnett J, O’Neill SJ (2012) Islands, resettlement and adaptation. Nat Clim Chang 2(1):8–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black R, Adger WN, Arnell NW, Dercon S, Geddes A, Thomas D (2011a) The effect of environmental change on human migration. Glob Environ Chang 21, Supplement 1:S3–S11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black R, Bennett SRG, Thomas SM, Beddington JR (2011b) Migration as adaptation. Nature 478(7370):447–449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black R, Arnell NW, Adger WN, Thomas D, Geddes A (2013) Migration, immobility and displacement outcomes following extreme events. Environ Sci Policy 27, Supplement 1:S32–S43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • BMD (2011) Weather data. Bangladesh Meteorological Department, Dhaka

    Google Scholar 

  • Castles S (2003) Towards a sociology of forced migration and social transformation. Sociology 37(1):13–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CEGIS (2006) Impact of sea level rise on land use suitability and adaptation options. Final draft report. Centre for Environmental Geographic Information Services, Dhaka

    Google Scholar 

  • Cernea M (1997) The risks and reconstruction model for resettling displaced populations. World Dev 25(10):1569–1587

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chambers R, Pacey A, Thrupp LA (1989) Farmer first: farmer innovation and agricultural research. Intermediate Technology Publication, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Dasgupta S, Laplante B, Murray S, Wheeler D (2011) Exposure of developing countries to sea-level rise and storm surges. Clim Chang 106(4):567–579

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daw T, Adger WN, Brown K, Badjeck M-C (2009) Climate change and capture fisheries: Potential impacts, adaptation and mitigation. In: Cochrane K, Young CD, Soto D, Bahri T (eds) change implications for fisheries and aquaculture: overview of current scientific knowledge. FAO fisheries and aquaculture technical paper, no. 530. FAO, Rome, pp 107–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis F (2000) Rural livelihoods and diversity in developing countries. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Emanuel K, Sundararajan R, Williams J (2008) Hurricanes and global warming: results from downscaling IPCC AR4 simulations. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 89(3):347–367. doi:10.1175/bams-89-3-347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • GOS (2011) Foresight: migration and global environmental change. Final project report. The Government Office for Science, UK, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter L (2005) Migration and environmental hazards. Popul Environ 26(4):273–302. doi:10.1007/s11111-005-3343-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2007) Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of working group II to the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Islam MM (2013) Vulnerability and adaptation of fishing communities to the impacts of climate variability and change: insights from coastal Bangladesh. University of Leeds, PhD Dissertation

    Google Scholar 

  • Islam MM, Sallu S, Hubacek K, Paavola J (2014a) Limits and barriers to adaptation to climate variability and change in Bangladeshi coastal fishing communities. Mar Policy 43:208–216. doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2013.06.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Islam MM, Sallu S, Hubacek K, Paavola J (2014b) Vulnerability of fishery-based livelihoods to the impacts of climate variability and change: insights from coastal Bangladesh. Reg Environ Chang 14:281–294. doi:10.1007/s10113-013-0487-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jansen HGP, Pender J, Damon A et al (2006) Policies for sustainable development in the hillside areas of Honduras: a quantitative livelihoods approach. Agric Econ 34(2):141–153. doi:10.1111/j.1574-0864.2006.00114.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kates RW (2000) Cautionary tales: adaptation and the global poor. Clim Chang 45(1):5–17. doi:10.1023/a:1005672413880

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kniveton D, Schmidt-Verkerk K, Smith C, Black R (2008) Climate change and migration: improving methodologies to estimate flows. IOM migration research series 33. International Organization for Migration, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Koczberski G, Curry GN (2005) Making a living: land pressures and changing livelihood strategies among oil palm settlers in Papua New Guinea. Agric Syst 85(3):324–339. doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2005.06.014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuruppu N, Liverman D (2011) Mental preparation for climate adaptation: the role of cognition and culture in enhancing adaptive capacity of water management in Kiribati. Glob Environ Chang 21(2):657–669. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.12.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee E (1966) A theory of migration. Demography 3(1):47–57. doi:10.2307/2060063

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLeman RA (2011) Settlement abandonment in the context of global environmental change. Glob Environ Chang 21, Supplement 1:S108–S120. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.08.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLeman RA, Hunter LM (2010) Migration in the context of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change: insights from analogues. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Chang 1(3):450–461. doi:10.1002/wcc.51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLeman R, Smit B (2006) Migration as an adaptation to climate change. Clim Chang 76(1):31–53. doi:10.1007/s10584-005-9000-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Met Office (2011) Climate: observations, projections and impacts—Bangladesh. Met Office Hadley Centre and Department of Energy and Climate Change of the United Kingdom

  • Miles MB, Huberman AM (1994) Qualitative data analysis: a sourcebook of new methods, 2ndedn. Sage Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks

    Google Scholar 

  • MoEF (2005) National adaptation programme of action (NAPA). Ministry of Environment and Forest, Dhaka

    Google Scholar 

  • Mortreux C, Barnett J (2009) Climate change, migration and adaptation in Funafuti, Tuvalu. Glob Environ Chang 19(1):105–112. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2008.09.006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers N (2002) Environmental refugees: a growing phenomenon of the 21st century. Philos Trans R Soc B 357(1420):609–613. doi:10.1098/rstb.2001.0953

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicholls RJ, Marinova N, Lowe JA et al (2011) Sea-level rise and its possible impacts given a ‘beyond 4 °C world’ in the twenty-first century. Philos Trans R Soc A 369(1934):161–181. doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0291

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paavola J (2008) Livelihoods, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in Morogoro, Tanzania. Environ Sci Policy 11(7):642–654. doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2008.06.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paul BK (2005) Evidence against disaster-induced migration: the 2004 tornado in North-Central Bangladesh. Disasters 29(4):370–385. doi:10.1111/j.0361-3666.2005.00298.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paul SK, Routray JK (2010) Flood proneness and coping strategies: the experiences of two villages in Bangladesh. Disasters 34(2):489–508. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7717.2009.01139.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Penning-Rowsell EC, Sultana P, Thompson PM (2013) The ‘last resort’? Population movement in response to climate-related hazards in Bangladesh. Environ Sci Policy 27, Supplement 1:S44–S59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piguet E, Pécoud A, de Guchteneire P (2011) Migration and climate change: an overview. Refug Surv Q 30(3):1–23. doi:10.1093/rsq/hdr006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Random.org (2011) Random.org. http://www.random.org/. Accessed 20 Jan 2011

  • Reuveny R (2007) Climate change-induced migration and violent conflict. Polit Geogr 26(6):656–673. doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2007.05.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scoones I (1998) Sustainable rural livelihoods: a framework for analysis. IDS working paper no. 72. Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Brighton

    Google Scholar 

  • Stern N (2007) The Economics of climate change: the Stern review. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sugi M, Murakami H, Yoshimura J (2009) A reduction in global tropical cyclone frequency due to global warming. SOLA 5:164–167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tacoli C (2009) Crisis or adaptation? Migration and climate change in a context of high mobility. Environ Urban 21(2):513–525. doi:10.1177/0956247809342182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UN (2005) Designing household survey samples: practical guidelines. Studies in methods. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division, United Nations, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsham M (2010) Assessing the evidence: environment, climate change and migration in Bangladesh. International Organization for Migration, Regional Office for South Asia, Dhaka

    Google Scholar 

  • Warner K, Dun O, Stal M (2008) Climate change and displacement: field observations and empirical research. Forced Migr Rev 38:13–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Warner K, Ehrhart C, de Sherbinin A et al (2009) In search of shelter—mapping the effects of climate change on human migration and displacement. United Nations University, CARE, and CIESIN-Columbia University. A policy paper prepared for the 2009 Climate Negotiations. Bonn, Germany

  • Yu J, Wang Y, Hamilton K (2010) Response of tropical cyclone potential intensity to a global warming scenario in the IPCC AR4 CGCMs. J Clim 23(6):1354–1373. doi:10.1175/2009jcli2843.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study is funded by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission. This study was also supported by the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy (CCCEP) and Sustainability Research Institute of the University of Leeds; Carls Wallace Trust, UK; and Annesha Group, Bangladesh. Jouni Paavola also acknowledges the support of the UK Economic and Social Research Council for CCCEP. Authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers, journal editors and Professor Karen O’Brien for their comments on the earlier version of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Md. Monirul Islam, Susannah Sallu & Jouni Paavola

  2. Department of Fisheries, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh

    Md. Monirul Islam

  3. Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Klaus Hubacek

Authors
  1. Md. Monirul Islam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Susannah Sallu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Klaus Hubacek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jouni Paavola
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Md. Monirul Islam.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Islam, M.M., Sallu, S., Hubacek, K. et al. Migrating to tackle climate variability and change? Insights from coastal fishing communities in Bangladesh. Climatic Change 124, 733–746 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1135-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1135-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation