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Abstract
Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world under the context of climate change. Each year thousands of migrants arrive in Dhaka City, the capital of the country, mainly forced by events such as floods, cyclone and riverbank erosion. Such group of migrants has been termed as “climate-induced” migrants in this research. The city also received other types of migrants who are not driven by climatic factors; rather their reasons for migration are purely opportunistic. This group has been termed as non-climate-induced migrants. The paper deals with the climate-induced and non-climate-induced migrants in Korail slum of Bangladesh who had arrived in Dhaka after 2006. This research attempted to analyse whether there are any differences in the characteristics, experiences and future aspiration between these two groups in spite of living in the same slum located in the capital of Bangladesh. Questionnaire survey, focus groups and key informant interview were the methods of data collection. Independent sample t-test and Chi-square test have been conducted to analyse data. Results revealed significant differences between the two groups in terms of income and savings, educational level, access to credit, contacts in the city, family structure, pattern of migration and relationship with the place of origin. The study revealed that if not properly planned, migration cannot be a suitable adaptation option.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. The way climate fluctuates yearly above or below a long-term average value (Dinse, Citation2011).
2. With an urban growth rate of 5.6% annually and with a population of 14.6 million, Dhaka is one of the fastest growing cities in South Asia. Dhaka City is also the major destination of the target group of the research and is also one of the most vulnerable cities in the world to the impacts of climate change (UN-HABITAT, Citation2009). According to the literature, Dhaka City is highly vulnerable to flooding, waterlogging and heat stress (Alam & Rabbani, Citation2007; UN-HABITAT, Citation2009).
3. The “t-test” is basically a small-sample test, but can be used for large sample size and approaches a normal distribution for n > 30. In our case, the minimum sample size is 40 for the group – non-climate-induced migrants, whereas n is 80 for the other group (climate-induced migrants). This justifies the use of the “t-test” in the case of quantitative variables for the two groups in our study.
4. Adaptation comprises significant changes in natural or human systems to cope with the impacts of climate change by reducing their negative impact or exploiting new opportunities (IPCC, Citation2007).