Plight of climate victims in Sandwip

The people of Sandwip are at the top of the list of victims and refugees due to climate change in Bangladesh. The story of Sandwip people in this list has remained elusive thus far. Due to climate change, the Sandwip upazila of Bangladesh is moving towards a dire future;  which has already become a problem for the residents of Sandwip. This silent killer has left 850,000 Sandwip residents homeless for the past hundred years. A large community in Sandwip has become homeless and have lost their habitat.

The number of climate refugees is increasing not only in Sandwip but also in Bangladesh. Agricultural people in 19 districts of the coastal region of Bangladesh are most at risk. About 3-4 crore people are under this direct risk. Indirectly, the country’s districts, cities, and capitals are also at risk due to the immense pressure of these climate-affected citizens. Current and future generations of the country are victims of climate change-related refugees. The people of Bangladesh, the land of rivers and seas, are becoming climate refugees due to climate change and its adverse effects; especially in monsoon seasons and no one will take responsibility for it.

It is said that when the affected people leave their homes and settlements and start living elsewhere permanently or temporarily due to various disasters or intolerable conditions due to global warming and climate change, these affected people are called climate refugees.

The number of climate-affected refugees in Sandwip is gradually increasing. Pressure is increasing on Earth’s Arctic climate: There is no clear and clean air anywhere; air pollution is rampant; the hot black smoke of the industrial factory is mingling with the sky; chemicals and waste are poisoning the climate. Due to climate pollution, in the next 2-3 decades, 2-3 crore people in Bangladesh may be forced to leave their favourite habitat through river silting and flooding. They already have been experiencing rural life to city life. This will put additional pressure on the civic amenities of the city.

It has been estimated that 1 in 45 people in the world is becoming climate refugee. In Bangladesh, this calculation will be more serious. Many people will not be able to earn pulses and rice even bread and butter. About 20 percent of the country’s land will be flooded or submerged under river water or saline water will rise and cause extensive damage to crops. There will be extreme impacts on the quality of life and biodiversity and extinction.

Furthermore, the average temperature of the world is increasing, the air is getting polluted. The sea level is rising due to the melting of the ice at the north and south poles of the earth. There is no rain in some places, excessive rain in some places, droughts and floods in some places, river erosion is increasing, and people are becoming climate refugees due to natural disasters such as floods and cyclones.

The people of Sandwip are migrating, leaving their homes and coming to the port in search of livelihood, they do not have purchasing power to sustain life, they are falling out of the production system and there is no way to earn money. Being affected by the climate, despite studying hard, many are going abroad to work because they cannot get a job to meet the expenses of their family. This is how the educated and talented population studying with the country’s tax money is being smuggled abroad.

If the ice caps at the North and South Poles melt due to climate warming, the sea level will rise by 1 meter (3.23 feet) by the end of this century, the study found. As a result, 3 million hectares (74.13 million acres) of agricultural and residential areas in Bangladesh may be flooded. Recently, by measuring the water on the coast of Sandwip, the researchers said that like the coastal areas of Bangladesh, the sea water is increasing by 14 millimetres every year on the Sandwip coast. As a result, the number of displacements in Bangladesh will increase.

Moreover, damming the water flow of 53 of the 54 rivers upstream of Bangladesh, the excess water in the monsoon season and the lack of water in the winter season are having an adverse effect on the people of the coastal region. Severe impacts on biodiversity are being observed and many wild animals and birds are becoming extinct as we often see in authentic reports.

About 850,000 people of Sandwip have lost their habitat due to river erosion and climate victims for almost a hundred years. All these people were forced to leave mainland Sandwip and seek shelters elsewhere. Sandwipi Para has been developed in different districts and upazilas of the country. It has been observed that around 850,000 people in Sandwip have been displaced and are homeless. Lost earnings once wealthy farmers are becoming unemployed and poor.

Environmental scientists say that in the near future, about 3-4 crore people in Bangladesh will be victims of climate change. Ports in cities will be congested by victims. The social environment will become unbearable. Crime tends to increase when earning or income becomes difficult. Children and adolescents and women and the elderly will fail to get basic needs and child marriage of girls will increase.

Already we can see that in the country, heavy rains, lack of rains, droughts, floods, cyclones, bursting of rivers - sinking of houses and land on the coast, rising sea level, decreasing or increasing the flow of water in the country’s rivers and canals or salinity. People are becoming climate refugees due to various reasons such as lack of irrigation water in cropland, changing rainfall patterns, lowering of underground water level, and increase of arsenic in water. Wind speed and soil erosion increase by 10 percent during high tides. If these issues are not identified and resolved now, Sandwip is increasingly becoming a climate refugee. This climate change is due to the greenhouse effect of the affluent lifestyle of the developed countries of the West. Thus we are the victims.

The inhabitants of Sandwip should shelter and settle this population in the raised pastures bordering Sandwip. They have to make arrangements to go back to their ancestral home. This fodder should be brought under cultivation. Payment of rent must be arranged. Modern cities need to be planned in the Chars of Sandwip. Embankment should be built on the coast. A 19 feet embankment has been constructed at Bhasanchar (Sandwip) for Rohingya refugees. However, embankments were not constructed in the Chars of Sandwip. The Cyclone Centre was also not built. Sandwip has not been declared a riverport yet. As a result, the cyclone is out of signal during special weather conditions.

Many say that forestation and conservation of the country’s coastal areas are necessary to combat global warming and other environmental threats. I think that if unplanned forestations are done in coastal areas including Sandwip. Then there will be more rain in this area. Cropland will sink. Diet will appear. Global warming is caused by industrialized countries if they do not reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in time. If not, the quality of life in coastal areas and sandpits will go down drastically and climate refugees will undoubtedly increase in these areas.

The World Bank says that by 2050, 5.3 million people in Bangladesh will be victims of climate change. Climate change will directly affect water and land. As a result, the desired crops and food are not produced, so we have to face a scary situation. Coastal people will lose their habitats;  the drinking water crisis will also increase.

Adequate funds have not been created to deal with climate change-related damage and crop losses in the country. There is a lack of understanding of the country’s capacity and results in this regard. The World Bank also says that due to the adverse effects of climate, the rate of poverty and deprivation is gradually increasing in the coastal 19 districts of Bangladesh, including Sandwip upazila.

Not only Bangladesh, but climate change is also affecting South Asian countries. The adverse and dire effects of climate change will become widespread by the year 2050. More than 60 million people in South Asian countries have to leave their habitats and move toward cities in search of life and livelihood. There will be a massive loss of livestock and biodiversity.

Due to the pressure of excess population leaving the houses and Agro-cultivable land, the city will also experience a lack of clean water and fresh air. Illness-bereavement will put pressure on health care in comparison. Lack of clean water and fresh air will increase the misery of citizens. Water is in short supply for drinking and dry season cultivation due to saline water. Along with it, the character of water has also changed, and the environment and biodiversity have changed. As a result of climate change, the suffering of floods, storm surges, and salinity will increase in coastal areas. These are due to climate change.

We need to plan for the future now, taking into account the harmful effects of climate change. The untold story of climate victims in Sandwip needs to be taken into account.

The writer is a lawyer and social organizer. He can be contacted at [email protected]