Five years ago, Belal Hossain left his home in the low-lying region of Garuikhali near the coastal mangroves of southern Bangladesh to spend time working as a construction worker in a construction contractor in Malaysia more than 3.219 miles away.
Some were forced to leave homes because of climate change disasters, others were left unemployed because of pandemic conditions
Hossain lost his job and went back to his homeland in March this year.
Bangladesh is one of the world’s largest exporters of labor. Prior to the pandemic, nearly 700.000 people each year were employed overseas.
But thousands of them have been left jobless over the last two years because of the pandemic which has slowed global economies.
Climate scientists said that the level of stress among migrants who leave regions bearing the impacts of climate change to look for work elsewhere is much higher than for others who migrate from ecologically stable regions, highlighting the lack of data on their state of affairs.
Migratory researcher Tasneem Siddiqui, who has worked with the International Labour Organisation on a study analysing the link between Covid-19, climate change and labour migration, highlighted the need for a more “innovative” use of funds dedicated to helping the world adapt to climate change.
Emergency directives necessary to assist climate migrants and a budget to create jobs are needed, added the founder of the Research Center for Refugees and Migratory Flows (RMC).
