Climate Induced Migration and Social Mobility Among Migrants: Evidence from the Southwest Coastal Region of Bangladesh

Abstract

Climate induced natural disasters is a common phenomenon of the southwest coastal region in Bangladesh, where rural-urban migration has been considered as an adaptation strategy to survive from the adverse situation of natural disasters. For this type of internal migration, the migrants face multiple hazards, such as occupational change in destination, poverty, gender discrimination, risk of violence, social inequality, social disharmony and conflict with the host community etc. which influence the individual’s social mobility that may be upward or downward. This qualitative research explores the social mobility of the climate migrants to assess the migrants’ socioeconomic as well as occupational changes. For this study, we have collected the data from the cyclone Sidr and cyclone Aila affected migrants who were migrated internally from the disaster-prone southwest coastal region to the neighboring divisional city Khulna of Bangladesh. After analyzing the primary data, the results have been shown that most of the climate migrants were changed their occupations due to the failure of deriving a secure income in destination places. According to the present socio-demographic profiles and the social status of the climate migrants, poor housing conditions, food insecurity, gender discrimination and structural inequalities in access to properties and control over resources, lack of access to urban culture and identity crisis related with social prestige are created the social disharmony in the society. Most of the rural middle class migrants are shifted in lower class in the context of urban life which indicate downward social mobility caused by climate induced unsuccessful migration.