Location security and environmental-induced displacement: a case study of the Riverine Islands in Bangladesh

Abstract

This article introduces the concept of ‘location security’ to describe the specific relationship between place, environ- mental and human security. It argues that ‘location security’ is determined by a location’s resilience to risk, understood in terms of the degree to which a specific region is protected by virtue of geographical endowments and has sufficient infrastructure to withstand and recover from the effects of environmental hazards and ensure that rights are protected. To illustrate the concept of location security, this article uses the sustainable livelihoods framework to explore actual and anticipated environmental pressures that affect the river deltas of Bangladesh, and examines the adaptation responses developed by the inhabitants of the riverine islands. A central finding of this article is that flexible migration and localised coping strategies based on acute knowledge of their local ecological and geological systems, enables the char dwellers to reduce their vulnerability. In this setting, human and environmental factors when harnessed may enhance agency to mitigate hazards. Cet article propose le concept de «securite du lieu» pour decrire les incertitudes auxquelles sont confrontes les populations de zones menaces par les chocs environnementaux et les effets complexes de leur eventuelle adaptation. On y avance que la securite du lieu se mesure en fonction de la resilience de la zone consideree, determine par l’importance de sa protection par des subventions territoriales, par la presence d’infrastructure permettant de soutenir les risques environnementaux et de s’en remettre, et par la mesure dans laquelle les droits sont proteges. Cet article explore les pressions environnementales actuelles et a venir au Bangladesh. On en conclut que la securite du lieu est determinee par les interactions entre les considerations environnementales et humaines, au premier chef l’impact sur les moyens de subsistance, et que des migrations de formes et de durees diverses peuvent resulted de pressions environnementales, comme des pressions sociales, economiques et politiques.