Location security and environmental-induced displacement: A case study of the riverine Islands in Bangladesh

Abstract

This article examines how environmentally induced shocks may give rise to migration. It introduces the concept of "location security" to describe the uncertainties facing people in potentially threatened areas and the complex effects of their anticipated adaptation. It argues that location security is determined by a location's resilience to risk, understood in terms of the degree to which a specific region is protected by geographical endowments and has sufficient infrastructure to withstand and recover from the effects of environmental hazards and ensure that rights are protected. It explores actual and anticipated environmental pressures in Bangladesh, the Carteret Islands, and Maldives, and examines mitigation and adaptation responses, including migration. The main findings of this article are that location security is determined by the interaction of environmental and human considerations, above all the impact on livelihoods, and that different forms and durations of migration may result from environmental pressures as well as social, economic, and political factors.