70-80% coastal people at risk of forced displacement

Around 70-80 per cent of coastal people are afraid of being displaced as they are experiencing the loss and damage of their property, health, education and livelihood, according to a recent study.

The findings of the study, conducted by the Centre for Participatory Research and Development (CPRD), were shared at a seminar, titled “Climate injustice vs gender justice: why should this matter?”, organised by CPRD at a hotel in Dhaka on Thursday.

The study was conducted at Mongla upazila of Bagerhat and Shyamnagar upazila of Satkhira, surveying 260 females.

Around 80% of the respondents from Mongla and 70% from Shyamnagar are afraid of being displaced from their homes due to imminent natural disasters.

Around 90% of the women in both Mongla and Shyamnagar have experienced the loss and damage of their household at least once in their lifetime. Moreover, 92.3% of respondents of Mongla and 94% of respondents of Shyamnagar perceived that natural disasters have increased in their locality in recent times.

Natural disasters also cause drop-out from school. The school dropout rate of children has reached an appalling level in these two regions. In Mongla, the drop-out rate is 56.6 per cent and in Shyamnagar 72.8 per cent.

The study reveals that the scarcity of fresh water is acute in the southwest coastal region. To cope with the scarcity and meet daily demands for household consumption, women have to travel to distant places and face a wide range of social problems. Around 57.8 per cent of women in Mongla and 76 per cent in Shyamnagar face abusive behaviour from neighbours, 10% in both areas face eve-teasing while nearly 70% in both areas face physical injury.

Moreover, every woman is found to suffer from different health problems due to continuous exposure to saline water while a vast majority of them have been bearing the brunt of reproductive health problems. Around 64 per cent of women in Mongla and 54 per cent in Shyamnagar have lost their uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries, the study revealed.

Women face insufficient water and sanitation facilities, such as unhygienic toilets and unavailability of the sanitary napkin, in the cyclone shelters, which has created problems in menstrual cycle management for 41 per cent women in Mongla and 31 per cent in Shyamnagar.

According to the field survey, women affected by climate change are forced to bribe the local influentials from Tk 1000 to Tk 5000 to have access to government and non-government support schemes.

At the seminar, National Human Rights Commission Chairman Kamal Uddin Ahmed said, “Climate change leads to many social and economic crises in this country. The development activists need to carry out more detailed study focusing particularly on the violation of human rights of the affected and marginalised community.”

CPRD Executive Director Md Shamsuddoha said, “The existing gender inequality between men and women in our society is fuelled by climate change.”