1 in 10 of Gabura, Munshiganj unions displaced: Study

One of every ten people in Gabura and Munshiganj unions of Satkhira district had no choice but to leave their ancestral homesteads in search of livelihood after super cyclone Aila devastated the areas, found a research study.
Centre for Climate Change and Environment Research of Brac University that carried out the study presented the findings at a discussion on the role of governance in climate change-induced migration in the capital's Brac Centre Inn yesterday.
Loss of livelihood, habitation and land in the unions forced local inhabitants to migrate across the border to India and internally to Dhaka, Khulna and other districts, said Brac University Vice-Chancellor Prof Ainun Nishat.
Compared to the usual economic and political reasons, saline water intrusion in farmland due to the 2009 storm surge of Aila and conversion of farmland into shrimp enclosures by wealthy people became an overriding force for migration of day labourers and farmers to urban areas, he said.
Since saline water intruded into the locality, decreasing sources of sweet water has been an acute problem in the unions, where 76 percent of the people have no access to drinking water, said Nishat.
Lack of sanitation coverage, electricity, transportation, health and education services fuelled the migration, he added.
The findings forecast that unless damaged sea embankments are repaired and saline resistant cultivation method introduced for alternative livelihoods, migration would continue as 41 people said they migrated because of natural disasters.
Dr Aparup Chowdhury, additional secretary to the environment and forest ministry, said the government was spending 80 percent of Tk 2,500 crore taken from the climate change trust fund to repair dykes and embankments.