Climate-Induced Rural-Urban Migration: A Case Study on Rickshaw-Pullers in Chittagong City

Abstract

Climate-induced rural-urban migration is a growing concern for Bangladesh. In most cases, people being affected by climate change related problems migrate to the two largest cities, Dhaka and Chittagong, leading to one of the largest migration influx within the country. Majority of the climate migrants end up living in slums in the cities, and add to the number of urban poor. Most of the climate migrants come from the agricultural sector, which is most highly affected by environmental problems, such as flood, riverbank erosion, draught, soil salinization, landslides and cyclones, and they often resort to rickshaw-pulling as an occupation after migration. Climate migrants continue to face various socio-economic problems even after moving to urban areas. Although studies have been conducted on climate migrants who are now living in Dhaka city, there is a lack of research on climate migrants currently residing in Chittagong city. A large

number of rickshaw-pullers in Chittagong city are climate migrants, who are living in poverty- ridden slums with poor sanitation facilities. This study aims to investigate the current economic

and living conditions of climate migrants who are working as rickshaw-pullers in Chittagong city and make comparisons with those living in Dhaka. The main research methods were questionnaire surveys and interviews. The study found that for climate migrants living and working in Chittagong city, rickshaw-pulling is a favourable occupation, and allows them to earn more than climate migrants in Dhaka, and more than they did in their villages. Although they often suffer from lack of sanitation facilities and poor living conditions, most of them are satisfied with their present socio-economic conditions, which provide a better alternative to rural areas which are highly susceptible to climatic events.