Millions of people have been forced from their homes due to natural disasters. According to migration experts, worsening climate conditions as a result of global warming will result in tens of millions more people in the developing world forced to move due to natural disasters.
“Environmental refugees have lost everything,” said Rabab Fatima, the South Asia representative of the International Organization for Migration. “They don’t have the money to make a big move. They move to the next village, the next town and eventually to a city.” (New York Times, Jan. 3)
The rapid increase in urban populations is resulting in serious problems, as water, energy and food resources are limited in cities of the underdeveloped world, according to Koko Warner, an expert on environmental migration at the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security in Bonn.
Bangladesh provides a good example. It is a mostly flat and densely populated country with 140 million residents. Traditionally, rural families migrated following a seasonal pattern. They moved to cities, working to send money home to the village, and returned for planting season. (New York Times, Jan. 3)
Now, families are moving on a permanent basis. According to Fatima, there are more intense storms and floods now than in the past. Furthermore, salinization damage to crops caused by the rising tide in conjunction with worsening river erosion has forced many from their villages.
As a result, Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh is now the fastest-growing megacity in the world, according to the World Bank, with a population of at least 12 million; more than 400,000 newcomers arrive each year. (New York Times, Jan. 3)
But Dhaka is no safe haven from the ravages of climate change. The city is just a few meters above sea level and regularly experiences cyclones and floods. According to the environmental group World Wildlife Foundation, it is the third most vulnerable megacity to the effects of global warming, after Jakarta and Manila.
Atiq Rahman, a climate change researcher and executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies, says that as many as half of the people in Dhaka live in shantytowns and slums. Experts estimate that at least 3 million of those slum residents are climate refugees. (New York Times, Jan. 3) Families that once farmed, growing rice, jute, sugar cane, mustard seed and radishes now rent cockroach-infested shanties made of mud, bamboo and corrugated tin.
The planet is facing systemic climate change as a result of global warming due to unrestrained polluting by industrial capitalist development. While the imperialists continue to reap the profits from this development, the negative effects of climate change are felt disproportionately in the poorest countries such as Bangladesh and among the poorest communities.
The climate crisis highlights the fact that for the benefit of the planet as whole capitalism must go, and be replaced by a rational system of planned, sustainable economic development that puts the needs of people and the environment first.
Cuba provides a great example. The small island has been rated by WWF as the only nation featuring environmentally sustainable development while meeting human needs. Cuba, like other nations in the Caribbean, faces the problem of hurricanes and other extreme weather. Yet due to their well-organized emergency response plans, loss of life has been almost entirely eliminated during hurricane season, and families are able to return to their homes as soon as possible. Today, rebuilding hurricane-ravaged areas is a high priority for the Cuban government.
