Relocation of climate refugees impossible without int'l fund

Countries likely to be hit hard by climate-induced disasters would not be able to relocate displaced people without international assistance, experts told a roundtable yesterday. 

Even the richest countries would need medical and emergency relief assistance in the case of large scale disasters, they said.

As Bangladesh is at risk of disasters, the countries triggering climate change should take the responsibility of rehabilitation of climate refugees, they stressed.

Titled "Climate Change and Displacement: the Global Debate", the discussion was organised by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) at its office in the capital.

Pointing out that not all vulnerable Bangladeshis are willing to leave the place of their ancestors, ActionAid Bangladesh's country director Farah Kabir said Bangladesh needed funding because it could not alone finance adaptation measures in vulnerable regions.

She added that developing countries were not responsible for climate change. "Rather developed countries are the main contributors to global warming."

Bangladesh is at risk of a rising sea level and extreme events like salinity intrusion, drought, erratic rainfall and tidal surges, threatening food security.

Prof Walter Kaelin, envoy of the chairmanship of Nansen Initiative, said almost 90 percent of the global migration between 2008 and 2013 occurred due to extreme climatic events.

He suggested that governments cooperate to rehabilitate the victims regionally.

Abdul Qayyum, national project director of Comprehensive Disaster Management Program, said one out of seven Bangladeshis could be displaced due to climate change by 2050.

Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque said an international agreement on ways to rehabilitate the displaced people could be negotiated at the United Nations.

Munshi Faiz Ahmad, chairman of BIISS board of governors, presided over the discussion.