DHAKA, July 25, 2022 (BSS) - Foreign Minister AK Abdul today warned that climate-induced migration poses grave security risks that may go beyond national borders.

“Bangladesh believes that the plight of millions of climate-induced migrants must be placed at the centre of migration and climate change discourses including in a gender-responsive and child-sensitive manner,” he said.

Momen was speaking at a policy dialogue on “Human Mobility in the Context of Climate Change: Towards a Common Narrative and Action Pathway” held at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka.

Seeking united and urgent action on climate migration, Momen said, “We remain sensitised to the fact that climate-induced forced migration can pose serious security risks with spill-over effects beyond national borders."  

The event aimed at bringing together all stakeholders for identifying potential avenues for Bangladesh to contribute further to advance the global agenda on climate change-migration nexus in the lead up to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt in November this year.

It was jointly organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The dialogue served as a forum to voice the different perspectives from the government, civil society, private sector, and international community, as well as the media.

During the last COP26 in Glasgow, Momen said, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged for a global sharing of responsibility for climate migrants, displaced by sea-level rise, salinity increase, river erosion, floods, and draughts.

Overall, the number of Bangladeshis displaced by the impacts of climate change could reach 13.3 million by 2050, making it the country’s number-one driver of internal migration, according to the World Bank.

Momen said such displacement is creating a heavy burden on Dhaka and other major cities of the country.

On top of that, the foreign minister said Bangladesh is hosting 1.2 million forcibly displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar at the cost of massive environmental loss and ecological damage in Cox’s Bazar.

“Our government is countenancing these twin displacement challenges, while also accelerating the trajectory of our socio-economic development,” he said.

Momen warned that the international community cannot afford to remain oblivious to the issue of climate migrants.