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The Climate Question: What can we do about climate migration?

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28/03/2021 GMT

What can we do about climate migration?

BBC World Service - The Climate Question, What can we do about climate migration?

Hundreds of millions of people run the risk of becoming climate migrants

Experts warn the number of people fleeing climate-driven storms, floods and droughts could run into the hundreds of millions in the coming years. What are we going to do about it?

Bangladesh is a country that is exceptionally vulnerable to climate change. With a low elevation and high population density, as well as poor infrastructure and an economic reliance on farming, it is naturally susceptible to extreme weather.
 
The intensification of conditions due to climate change means more people are being driven from their homes and land by sea level rises, storms, cyclones, drought, erosion, landslides, flooding and salinisation of the land. It's estimated that by 2050, one in every seven people in Bangladesh will become a climate migrant. 
 
But Bangladesh is far from being alone. Across South Asia, it’s estimated that more than 40m people will be displaced; worldwide, the figure runs into the hundreds of millions.
 
Climate migration is coming. The question is, what are we going to do about it? 
 
Guests:
Akbar Hossain - reporter, BBC Bengali Service
Qasa Alom - presenter, BBC Asian Network
Dr Tasneem Siddiqui - founding chair of Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit in Bangladesh
Dr Kanta Kumari Rigaud - lead environmental specialist at the World Bank
 
Presented by Graihagh Jackson and Neal Razzell 
Produced by Alex Lewis 
Researched by Zoe Gelber 
Edited by Emma Rippon

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