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In Pictures: Global warming forces Bangladeshi tribals to migrate

Indigenous tribespeople being forced out of their villages as global warming dries up water resources in their region.

"The water sources and forest where hill tribal people usually establish their settlements remain dry now even in the monsoon. We are forced to sell fruits gathered from the forest as agricultural cultivation is unavailable," said Macharu Marma, who lives in Lulain village. [Sulayman Hossain/Al Jazeera]
By Sulayman Hossain
Published On 25 Jan 2021

Global warming has dried up water resources in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in southeastern Bangladesh, forcing thousands of Indigenous tribal people out of their traditional settlements.

While rural and coastal areas have already borne the brunt of floods and cyclones, climate change has wreaked havoc on the South Asian country’s high-altitude region.

Environmentalists say the Hill Tracts regions – which cover 10 percent of Bangladesh’s land areas – are in danger of losing their water streams.

“A few years ago, villagers here grew an abundance of rice and vegetables and the streams provided fish and drinking water,” said Manu Ching, who lives in the hill district of Bandarban’s Lulain village. “But not any more.”

“[Things] have changed, rainfalls have become very erratic, not as it used to be, so we are unable to grow seasonal crops any more. Climate has changed,” Ching added.

Scarcity of fresh drinking water is a major challenge for people living in Bangladesh's hilly region, according to a report by the Manusher Jonno Foundation NGO. [Sulayman Hossain/Al Jazeera]
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Women from the Hill Tracts region have to travel a long way to collect drinking water. [Sulayman Hossain/Al Jazeera]
Global warming has dried up water resources in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, forcing thousands of people out of their traditional settlements. [Sulayman Hossain/Al Jazeera]
Dried up waterfalls in the Chittagong Hill Tracts area. Due to the rise in global temperature and increasing deforestation, water resources are depleting. [Sulayman Hossain/Al Jazeera]
The Chittagong Hill Tracts, home to Bangladesh's ethnic minorities, have an estimated population of nearly 2 million. [Sulayman Hossain/Al Jazeera]
"This area was full of forest and the land was fertile, we used to do shifting cultivation, but now things have changed," says resident Manu Ching. [Sulayman Hossain/Al Jazeera]
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Many among the tribal population have moved to towns and other urban areas. [Sulayman Hossain/Al Jazeera]
Tribespeople who moved to Bandarban town live in congested slums and earn a living through menial labour. [Sulayman Hossain/Al Jazeera]
Climate-related migration in Bangladesh could increase up to seven-fold, displacing 3 million people from their homes by 2050, a new study by ActionAid and its partners Climate Action Network South Asia and Bread for the World has found. [Sulayman Hossain/Al Jazeera]