Case Study -1
Shafiqul Islam, aged 70, seeks alms at Panthapath Signal. This elderly adult faced difficulties while begging with a gentle demeanour. He has lost everything in river erosion, leaving his home and belongings behind. His sons and daughters have separate families, and he begs to sustain life with his wife, whom he left in the nearest village. In exchange for work, she has taken shelter with a family in Jamalpur.
Shafiqul Islam's home is in Mohammudpur village of Goaler Char Union in Jamalpur's Islampur Upazila. He has ten decimal lands with households. Farming was his profession; however, it has all been lost due to river erosion. In his 70 years of life, he has fallen victim to river erosion eight to ten times. That time, he came to work in Islampur Upazila town. Sometimes, he has sought refuge in the embankment. He has returned to the riverine area after getting back to the land. This time, life is uncertain for him, and he is unsure whether he can return.
Case Study-2
Taher Ali, aged 46, has a better fate than Shafiqul Islam. In 2003, seeking employment, he left the village and came to Dhaka due to the impact of erosion and poverty. He works as an auto-rickshaw driver. They had some landed property in the village Char Nandaner para of Chinduli Union in Islampur Upazila. However, the Jamuna River has taken away everything again. Helpless, Taher Ali has brought his mother to live in a rented house in Dhaka. His sister and her husband are taking care of their village's property. Right now, they have taken shelter in Islampur town, having lost everything to river erosion once again. They will return to Char Nandaner Para village whenever they get back to the land. Taher Ali has received land back three times until now. They need the required documents; local land officials and leaders, including the chairman, understand their situation and distribute the land through informal means. His family used to cultivate nuts and potatoes over there.
Case Study-3
The story of Mohammad Belal is unique. In the village of Guthail in Islampur Chinduli Union of Jamalpur, there was a house with ample land. He used to cultivate crops on 15 bighas of land. However, 20 years ago, he was displaced due to river erosion. He took shelter in Ullaiya in the same union. Seeking a livelihood, he came to Dhaka to pull a rickshaw. In Ullaiya, he found a place to stay. He regained about six bighas of river-affected land four years ago with the help of the local chairman and the land office. Now, alongside rickshaw pulling, he cultivates the land to some extent. However, his father could not return to this land. However, they have now permanently settled in Ullaiya and will not return to Guthail. But life is uncertain here too.
All of the above people in the case study are from Islampur, an upazila in Jamalpur District. It is a district prone to riverbank erosion and floods. The locals' claims often go unheard, leading to displacement and a need to seek work in the city. As the marginalized populations are unskilled labourers, they are denied the right to be part of the urbanization process. They make a living by operating rickshaws and engaging in various odd jobs in the nearby town.
How are you, Islampur?
Islampur upazila has an area of 334 square kilometres. The Jamuna River bounds it to the west, and the Brahmaputra River flows through the north-eastern part. The population is 350,000. The erosion of the Brahmaputra and Jamuna rivers throughout the year is the biggest problem for the residents of this upazila. As two large rivers, the Jamuna and Brahmaputra, flow through this upazila, causing natural floods even during normal rainfall, the area is submerged during floods, causing extreme hardship to the livelihoods.
The Bangladesh National Portal reports that over the past 20 years, the river has submerged 12 schools and madrasas in Islampur Upazila, including the Bahadurabad Railway Station. Additionally, in the current year, the river in Islampur Upazila has submerged about 25 villages with homes and agricultural land from Pathorshi Union to Nowapara Union. Throughout the year, including the winter season, river erosion remains ongoing in this upazila.
What researchers say
A research by Shahana Akther, Umme Saleh Shakira and Md Hanif Bhuiyan of the Department of Geography and Environment, Jagannath University, depicted a clear picture of Islampur's erosion. They specifically worked on this particular area to assess the impact on the socio-economic condition of the inhabitants of Islampur Upazila.
This study revealed that the highest deposition occurred in 2017, which was 155.28 km2, whereas it was 137.96 km2 in 2007 and 109.26 km2 in 1997, respectively. On the other hand, the river area without deposition was 75.44 km2 in 2017. Interestingly, the river area without deposition was 57.42 km2 in 1997, then increased to 79.32 km2 in 2007, and again declined to 75.44 km2 in 2017. The total land gained by accretion was 79.84 km2, and erosion was 43.8 km2 during the period of 1997-2017.
The research also showed that most of the respondents (58%) had migrated to the place of the present. Residence is between 6 and 10 years, and 46% of people have been displaced from their origins in 2-5 years.
Due to riverbank erosion, landless people do not want to migrate permanently from their place of origin, but they are forced to move permanently. According to the respondent's perception of migration routes, it can be stated that they mostly preferred short distances for permanent migration, whereas they preferred long distances for temporary migration. Around 43% of respondents permanently migrated to the same mouza, whereas only 4% of respondents migrated to another district.
On the other hand, around 45% of respondents temporarily migrated to another district, and only 3% of respondents temporarily migrated within the same mouza—it was research from 2017, and things have changed too. But river erosion has not stopped, and the situation is almost the same.
The lead researcher of the above research, Shahana Akther, is now working as a PhD researcher at the University of Manchester. She said: “River erosion has severe socio-economic impacts, especially affecting agricultural economies significantly. Naturally, river erosion leads to inter-city migration. Alongside social degradation, economic crises become evident, particularly due to displacement. If the displaced people could be resettled in local areas, then an urgent solution is possible. People affected by river erosion in northern regions do not go to major cities because industrialization has occurred there. However, in Jamalpur Islampur, due to the lack of such establishments and job opportunities, people affected by river erosion migrate to the city. Some beg for a living; some operate rickshaws; and most live in rented houses or work as day labourers.
