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1. Unheard Water Stories from Asia, Africa and MENA: Elevating local voices for water security in a climate insecure world

Author:
Nuzhat Nueary
Publication Date:
11-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
This paper shares stories from six countries—Bangladesh, Nepal, Kenya, Somalia, Syria, and Iraq—highlighting the challenges communities face in accessing water. It seeks to bring forward the unique perspectives of communities from diverse backgrounds, each experiencing water crises in distinct ways. While climate change intensifies their crises, many communities also face marginalization due to exclusionary water governance. The impacts are further compounded by factors such as gender, poverty, ethnicity, and race. However, the voices and perspectives of these communities are often overlooked in global climate discussions.The paper aims to highlight these diverse community experiences and advocate for the inclusion of local voices and leadership in climate actions and interventions to ensure fairer access to water. As global climate events like COP-29 unfold, it calls on governments to create inclusive climate policies, integrate water issues into loss and damage discussions, actively involve women and local voices, and urge rich, polluting nations to compensate those most affected by historic and ongoing carbon emissions.
Topic:
Climate Change, Migration, Water, Governance, Climate Finance, Land Rights, Drought, Loss and Damage (L&D), Gender Equality, Water Insecurity, and Salinity
Political Geography:
Bangladesh, Kenya, Africa, Iraq, South Asia, Middle East, Nepal, Syria, and Somalia

2. Community-Based Research in Fragile Contexts: Reflections From Rohingya Refugee Camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Author:
Mohammad Azizul Hoque, Tasnuva Ahmad, and Tasnia Khandaker Prova
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on Migration and Human Security
Institution:
Center for Migration Studies of New York
Abstract:
This commentary examines community-based research in fragile settings based on the authors’ experience working with Rohingya and host community researchers in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. This iteration of a community-based approach to research focuses on putting community researchers at the center and emphasizes their involvement at each stage of the research process – from design to implementation to analysis – alongside external researchers. Community researchers contribute their expertise to increase understanding of nuances that might otherwise be lost to external researchers. Integral to this approach is building and nurturing the trust of researchers, respondents and community members through innovative means such as an informal “trust network.” Also central to the community-based approach, especially in fragile1 settings, is a sustained emphasis on community researchers’ learning and skills-building. The commentary article describes methods developed by the Centre for Peace and Justice, Brac University (CPJ), implemented with Rohingya refugees and host community researchers in Cox’s Bazar. The article suggests: • Putting community members at the heart of learning and research approaches helps to amplify marginalized voices and emphasize their needs and choices. • The political and economic atmosphere of a refugee setting can change rapidly. In such circumstances, community-based research can be vital to policymakers that seek to understand emerging concerns and issues. • Community-based experiential education and research approaches hold potential to promote grassroots leadership among refugee youth in situations of protracted displacement. • Strengthening the capacities of community researchers is crucial to this approach. Community researchers often lack language skills, especially writing and reading, and translating from local dialects to English or any other preferred language. The acquisition of research skills can also pave a durable and critical pathway toward meaningful youth engagement. • Trust and familiarity between refugee interlocutors and researchers require long-term engagement. Creating a culture of mutual respect and dignity is of utmost importance. The community expects researchers to respect their religious beliefs and cultural values. • The two-way exchange between community researchers and respondents enhances the learning process and can help discover areas for further inquiry.
Topic:
Migration, Refugees, Rohingya, and Community-based Research
Political Geography:
Bangladesh, South Asia, and Myanmar

3. Climate-Resilient Migrant-Friendly Towns: A Conceptual Framework

Author:
Mizan R. Khan, Madiha Chowdhury, and Saleemul Huq
Publication Date:
01-2022
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)
Abstract:
For the last few years, ever increasing climate change impacts resulting from the new normal of extreme events are becoming a rude fact of life around the world. The findings of the Working Group-1 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in August 2021 again provides mortal warnings about the impending climate crisis. The impacts are particularly stark in South Asia, the most populous region on Earth. Within South Asia, Bangladesh stands as the most vulnerable: 4.1 million people were displaced due to climate disasters in 2019 (2.5% of the population), with 13.3 million people likely to face displacement by climate change by 2050, and 18% of its coastland will remain inundated by 2080 (Rigaud, et al. 2018). The Paris Agreement goal of keeping the temperature rise at 1.5°C or well below 2°C compared to pre-industrial times cannot be achieved, given the lack of ambitious mitigation, when we already live with 1.1°C higher temperature. As a result, the number of people estimated to be displaced by slow-onset events will stand at ~22.5 million by 2030 and ~34.4 million by 2050 in South Asia including Bangladesh (Singh, et. al. 2020). Where will all these people go? A land area of 147,570 km2 is inhabited by 165 million people. So, Bangladesh has no space to retreat. Estimates show that about half a million people displaced by river-bank erosion move to Dhaka city alone, crowding the slums and mounting pressure on limited city services. In such a situation, one option to address displacements in a world of increasing urbanization including in Bangladesh could be the transformation of smaller towns to be climate resilient and migrant-friendly (CRMFT). This option appears practicable for populous countries like Bangladesh, having little or no space for retreat from vulnerable hotspots. In this context, several queries can be raised: What is the rationale of the model of CRMFT? What does make a town climate resilient and migrant-friendly? What are its elements and dimensions? While responding to these queries, this policy brief attempts to design a framework for CRMFT, though it may differ across physical and socio-economic boundaries.
Topic:
Climate Change, Migration, Displacement, and Resilience
Political Geography:
Bangladesh and South Asia

4. One Year On: Time to Put Women and Girls at the Heart of the Rohingya Response

Author:
Dorothy Sang
Publication Date:
09-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Beginning on 25 August 2017, over 700,000 Rohingya refugees fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh seeking safety and lifesaving assistance. While safe from the violence they were subjected to in Myanmar, Rohingya women continue to face huge protection risks and challenges in Bangladesh. This briefing paper looks at how the humanitarian response, one year on, is meeting the specific needs of women and girls and what more can and should be done so that women and girls can access services, voice their concerns and hopes for the future and influence the decisions that affect their lives.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Migration, Water, Minorities, Refugees, Displacement, Humanitarian Crisis, and Hygiene
Political Geography:
Bangladesh, Asia, and Myanmar

5. Building Climate-Resilient, Migrant-Friendly Cities and Towns

Author:
Sarder Shafiqul Alam, Saleemul Huq, Faisal Bin Islam, and Hasan Mohammed Asiful Hoque
Publication Date:
07-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)
Abstract:
Bangladesh has been experiencing a rapid growth in urban population during last four decades. However, this growth follows an imbalanced spatial distribution, mostly directed towards Dhaka city. As of 2011, almost 44% of the country’s urban population lived in Dhaka resulting in excessive pressure on its housing, transportation, infrastructure, and basic services (GED, 2015). This pressure is accumulating every year as a result of rapid population influx where climatic stresses play a major role in driving people towards major cities in search of livelihood opportunities. It is projected that around 13 million people within Bangladesh are likely to be displaced by 2050, eventually migrating to Dhaka and other major cities, where climate migrants are likely to outnumber other internal migrants (World Bank, 2018). It will be difficult for cities like Dhaka to absorb this huge influx of climate migrants. The citizens of Bangladesh should not be encouraged to migrate into major cities. Rather, they should be incentivized to move to other secondary cities in the country. As climate change worsens, and more people are likely to migrate from their rural homes to urban centers, it is imperative that Bangladesh pursues a policy of creating climate resilient, migrant-friendly cities to disperse the massive influx of migrants moving to Dhaka.
Topic:
Climate Change, Migration, Cities, and Resilience
Political Geography:
Bangladesh and South Asia

6. Coping With Uncertainties: Trust Dynamics, Fluid Networks and Poverty Traps of the Urban Poor

Author:
Kaneta Zillur and Farhana Razzaque
Publication Date:
04-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), Brac University
Abstract:
Over the recent decades, poverty has increasingly become more urbanized, driven partially by the large volume of rural to urban migration. The urban poor not only have to deal with living in overcrowded slums or other low-income settlements, but also tackle social and economic deprivations and struggle to enter the highly competitive urban workforce, and maintain a basic livelihood. With the objective of learning how the urban poor cope with uncertainties, this qualitative research was conducted to identify the role of social networks in the context of urban poverty and how the poor, living in Dhaka city, use them as a coping mechanism. The study sought to capture the generation of social capital (networks, trust dynamics) in poor communities, particularly in slums and low-income settlements in Dhaka city. The data suggests that the urban poor form single-purpose networks with multiple individuals within their communities to fulfil various economic and social needs to improve their living. Single-purpose networks are imperative for the poor to be able to cope with certain uncertainties. However, certain other issues require a stronger trust foundation between the individuals in a network. This leads to the formation of multipurpose networks, where trust dynamics and the subsequent faith and reliability play a pivotal role. The study also finds that the use of social capital and information networks to secure employment is a common practice within low-income communities.
Topic:
Migration, Poverty, Urban, and Uncertainty
Political Geography:
Bangladesh and South Asia

7. Internal Migration as a Coping Mechanism to Natural Disaster: Evidence from Southern Bangladesh

Author:
Maria Matin, Iffat Zahan, and Atonu Rabbani
Publication Date:
04-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), Brac University
Abstract:
In this study, we focus on the impact of exposure to a natural disaster on migration. Here, we focus on a very specific type of migration where the households send household member(s) outside the community for earning purposes. We study this in the context of a tropical cyclone called Aila in the southern coastal region of Bangladesh. We find the household’s decision to migrate is systematically associated with exposure to a natural disaster. We find this association for both self-reported exposure to the natural disaster and also with the intensity of the exposure measured by total loss normalized by the total asset of the household. We further find that households induced by the disaster to have a migrant member have less to gain from the migration compared to households who would otherwise migrate in absence of the disaster, suggesting evidence of sorting in migration decision. Public policy should recognize the importance of migration as a possible crisis coping instrument and also take into consideration the possible selection when designing policy to help people vulnerable to extreme weather and climate change.
Topic:
Migration, Natural Disasters, and Public Policy
Political Geography:
Bangladesh and South Asia

8. Bengal’s Beleaguered Borders: Is there a fix for the Indian Subcontinent’s Transboundary Problems?

Author:
Robert G. Wirsing and Samir Kumar Das
Publication Date:
09-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS), Georgetown University in Qatar
Abstract:
This paper assesses five major transboundary-related problems currently troubling the Bengal region and bedeviling, in particular, the relationship between Bangladesh and India. These problems relate to settlement of the land boundary (enclaves and adverse possessions), facilitation of transboundary transit (road, rail, and waterway), curbing of transboundary illicit activity (smuggling, human trafficking, and covert support for radical Islamist groups and separatist militants), sharing of transboundary river resources, and control of transboundary migration. The paper’s focus is on the potential and capacity of the political entities sharing the Bengal region to identify, agree upon, and implement effective and sustainable solutions to these problems. It argues that such solutions, to be sustainable, would have to prioritize cross-border cooperation and mutual benefit—objectives that have thus far neither been aggressively nor consistently pursued in this region. The authors observe that the transboundary problems troubling the Bengal region vary substantially in the extent of their intractability and that some of them will persist far into the future. Nevertheless, they conclude that the present scale as well as the severity of the consequences of these problems are not permanent fixtures and will vary enormously with the political will, perseverance, and skill of those charged with determining the political destiny of this hugely important region.
Topic:
Human Welfare, Migration, Regional Cooperation, Natural Resources, and Border Control
Political Geography:
Bangladesh, India, and Bengal

9. Map Room: Dhaka, Bangladesh

Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
No abstract is available.
Topic:
Migration and Poverty
Political Geography:
Bangladesh and Dhaka

10. Securitization Of Illegal Migration of Bangladeshis To India

Author:
Josy Joseph
Publication Date:
01-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
Over 10 million illegal migrants from Bangladesh live in India, according to both official and unofficial estimates. This paper examines the securitization of the issue by various actors through a century. The paper goes into the influences of political ideologies on the Indian State's response to the issue, and the impact of speech acts and other actions of securitizing actors on the issue. The study also examines if desecuritization of the issue would have any positive impact on solving the problem.
Topic:
Security, Migration, and Politics
Political Geography:
Bangladesh and India