The adoption of the UN resolution on climate justice during the general assembly on March 29, 2023, was a historic moment as it is expected to make it easier to hold the polluting countries legally accountable for the current climate breakdown.
On the same day, the transitional committee on loss and damage fund and funding mechanism ended with their first round of meetings, seemingly agreeing to operationalize a new fund alongside assessing and strengthening funding arrangements. The world eagerly awaits what the workshop outputs at the end of April -- especially regarding the debates on the arrangements.
But time is running out …
Badurtola, a remote village at Morrelganj Sadar union of Bagerhat district in Bangladesh, is in itself evidence of “loss and damage.” There are many cases of climate-induced migration, the worst scenario of loss and damage.
Even two decades ago, the scenario was completely different -- the villagers lived in agriculture and were rich in crops, fisheries, poultry, and livestock.
The story changed after cyclone Sidr in 2007 and cyclone Aila in 2009.
Both water and soil salinity changed the agricultural practices and the traditional livelihood options in the area. The communities living in an agriculture-based economy had to gradually recover over the next three to five years because of the number of adaptation practices at the local level.
However, they experienced adaptation limitations, mainly because of factors influenced by climate stresses such as sea level rise and erratic rainfall. The former increased the salinity making the land unsuitable for farming, while rainfed crops and other livelihood opportunities were also limited because of the latter. They could only produce one round of paddy with a low yield in the rainy season.
Having lost their livelihood, many villagers had to take seasonal migration to different areas of the country as an option, despite needing adequate capability, including resources, skills, and connectivity. A survey in 2020 shows that around 24.42% of the households in the village (179 households out of a total of 733) had one and more members migrate (seasonal and extended) in the last two years.
There are mixed migration experiences that were devastating during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many migrants were forced to return to their village. Around 167 people out of 197 migrants returned to their homes and had to remain for a long time, despite having minimal income opportunities. A percentage (86.22%) of returnee migrants who engaged as skilled labour at the destination could return when the situation improved slowly.
Unfortunately, the worst among the most affected -- the vulnerable groups of people with inadequate capability, despite having an aspiration to move, and people having the ambition to stay in the community, but with the low capability to do so -- could not recover. These groups are often termed as “trapped people” and “non-migrants.”
Empowering the worst of the most affected
Five climate-induced (non-)migrants in this village, as exceptions, have been examples of rebuilding their livelihood in Morrelganj. Ali Akbar, Jamal Shikari, Sontosh Dhali, Shah Alam Gazi, and Ibrahim Sheikh came across the first-ever institutional funding on “loss and damage” by the Scottish government, channeled through the Climate Justice Resilience Fund.
They participated in a pre-decision orientation on migration organized by Helvetas, Shushilan, and DORP, which ignited them to come up with an idea -- they explored potential livelihood opportunities at the local level, diagnosed its risks and challenges, and finally stepped in.
They are now running integrated farming in 2.5 acres of fallow land, initially starting only around one acre. It ensures them both food security and livelihood opportunities, securing a good earning for their families for around six to seven months while they can grow paddy in the same land during the monsoon period.
Now they are increasing seasonal crops, mainly vegetables. In February 2023, the field was full of spinach, coriander, red amaranth, sweet pumpkin, long bean, eggplant, green chili, ladies' finger, bitter gourd, etc. There were also field crops such as corn and bungi (muskmelon) -- interestingly, these are all saline-tolerant varieties.
They follow the application of relay crops to ensure maximum land utilization -- one crop is growing up while another is being harvested on the same bed. Bed methodology helps them with intercultural operations, such as saving other crops from specific pests and diseases, and protecting the wider spread. Vertical and horizontal gardening ensures maximum use of space and isles and fallow land. Tower gardening and sac bag methods have been popular in the context of soil salinity and water logging.
This piece of land has been a demonstration plot of climate-smart agriculture as it runs the production of bio-fertilizer and indigenous technologies, for instance, sex pheromone traps reducing the use of chemical fertilizers, insecticides, and pesticides.
Although a few of these five champions still think about migration during the monsoon period, this shift from permanent migration to a temporary one has resulted from the actions responding to the loss and damage and generating learning to scale up.
Actions to respond to economic loss and damage
It starts with recognizing the loss and damage of livelihood opportunities in different sectors because of the slow-onset disasters and emerging issues in the context of climate change, resulting in climate-induced (non-)migration.
Then comes the identification of the migrants and non-migrants in the community, with particular attention to the latter group, keeping the issue of classical migration aside. To respond to loss and damage, support for rebuilding livelihoods was critical to this case -- capacity building support, input support, alternative technologies, matchmaking between service providers, linking them with the market system, and facilitating a cooperative system to keep them out of the vicious cycle of loan and interest.
Broadly, support for alternative livelihoods, reskilling the climate-vulnerable, planned relocation, and informed migration can work out, at least for the short run, complemented with other required factors.
Seeing the big picture
To respond to the large scale of the problem, the government of Bangladesh must look at the agenda critically and expand its bandwidth of recognition of climate-induced migration, both at the source and destination.
Establishing information provisions regarding this at the local government structure might be one step in mapping and responding to it through social safety net programs and additional interventions -- these are mandatory to reach the goal of limiting climate-induced migration outlined in the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan.
Moreover, it must be placed firmly at the center of global negotiations, capitalizing on international migration as an adaptation. While outlining the loss and damage fund and funding arrangements, the transitional committee must respond to this evidence on the ground. It is not a single case in a specific country -- it's an enormous global issue.
They must analyze the broader dimension of this economic loss and damage beyond the coverage and design of the insurance mechanism and humanitarian actions, coming as suggestions within and beyond the UNFCCC. Here lies the accountability of the transitional committee to base on the most affected people at every corner of the globe and design just actions to be placed at COP28 in the UAE.
Ashish Barua is the Domain Coordinator of the Climate Change and Sustainable Development program in Helvetas; Musrat Hasan Emon is the Technical Officer -- Migration in Helvetas, and Kazi Tobarak Hossain works as the Project Manager with Shushilan in Khulna.