Security VS Adaptation: Competing Discourses on Climate Change and Migration in Bangladesh.

Abstract

Surging interest within academic and policy communities has given rise to an abundance of literature on the subject of climate change-related migration, which has in turn generated a wide range of views on the anticipated scale and scope of this phenomenon. As a result, diverging conceptualizations of this policy problem have led to markedly different recommendations on how governments, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and International Organizations (IOs) should address this issue. In recent years, these views have begun to solidify into distinct policy discourses. This paper aims to identify and explore different policy discourses within current policy debates on the issue of climate change-related migration in Bangladesh by examining a collection of policy texts produced by a broad cross-section of NGOs, IOs and Think Tanks. The first chapter examines the relationship between climate change and migration in Bangladesh by presenting a broad overview of how these impacts are expected to affect the lives and livelihoods of Bangladeshis over the coming century. Specifically, this section examines sea level rise, increasing glacial melt in the Himalayas, changing weather patterns, and increasingly frequent and severe extreme weather events. The second chapter identifies and extrapolates key characteristics of the security and adaptation discourses that emerge from the literature examined by focusing on how five distinct themes – climatic drivers of migration; human security; state security; agency and identity; and policy and governance – are viewed within these discursive frameworks. Finally, the third chapter seeks to explain the discursive positions adopted by the organizations authoring these texts by examining, in broad strokes, the unique characteristics of these groups, and the geo-political environments within which they operate. Furthermore, this chapter will also look at the influence of two pre-existing discursive frameworks – illegal migration and climate justice – on the security and adaptation discourses, respectively. As the impacts of climate change are expected to become increasingly severe over the course of the twenty-first century, identifying and extrapolating the discursive frameworks that are being employed to highlight or marginalize specific policy outcomes will be increasingly important. By examining two key discourses emerging within current policy literature on the subject of climate change and migration, this analysis aims to shed new light on an emerging issue-area in climate change policy.